Memoirs

MEMOIRS OF
WILLIAM HICKEY

EDITED BY

ALFRED SPENCER

VOL. Ill
(1782-1790)

WITH TWO PHOTOGRAVURE PORTRAITS

LONDON

HURST y BLACKETT, LTD.
PATERNOSTER HOUSE, E.G.

C)

Made and printed in Great Britain at
The Mayflower Press, Plymouth. William Brendon & Son, Ltd.

EDITOR'S NOTE

AT the time of the publication of the second volume of
these Memoirs it was thought that a third volume only
would be needed to bring them to a conclusion. The
unpublished portion has, however, been found to be much
more interesting than was expected, with the result that
a fourth volume will be required to complete the work.
This is now being prepared and will be published with
the least possible delay.

Now that the famous picture of Thais, by Sir Joshua
Reynolds, has been proved to be a portrait of Emily Warren
(Bob Pott's Emily), although it has been described as a
picture of Emily Bertie or Coventry, the Editor is glad
to reproduce it in the present volume with a portrait of
Bob Pott himself by Romney, owned by the Rev. Alfred
Percivall Pott, who has very kindly given permission to
the Editor to use it.

Many unsuccessful efforts have been made to obtain a
portrait of the author of the Memoirs and one of Charlotte
Barry. The present volume mentions several pictures which
were painted of them, and in addition there is towards the
end of the Memoirs a reference to a portrait of the author
painted by Mr. George Chinnery in Calcutta in 1807 or 1808,
and presented by him to Sir Henry Russell, the then Chief
Justice of Bengal. There appears also to have been an
engraved portrait of the author, probably a private plate,
of which a copy was sold at the sale of Thomas Haviland
Burke's engravings at Christie's, 21-28 June, 1852. It
is hoped that some of these portraits will yet be -traced and
the Editor would be thankful for any information that
may be thought likely to assist him in his search for them.

CONTENTS

PAOK

EDITOR'S NOTE . T

I. THE VOYAGE FROM LISBON .... 1
IE. TEBREBLE TIMES ABOARD . . . .18

III, IN THE HANDS OF THE FRENCH ... 34

IV. ADMIRAL SUFFBBN ...... 50

V. RELEASED 65

VI. FROM TRINOOMALAY TO MADRAS . . .81
VII. LIFE IN MADRAS ...... 94

VIII. ADMIRAL SIR EDWARD HUGHES AND THE RIVAL

FLEETS 108

IX. LIFE IN MADRAS (continued) . . . .119

X. FROM MADRAS TO CALCUTTA . . . .129

XI. GETTING BACK TO WORK . . . .141

XII. OLD FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES . .154

XIII. CHARLOTTE AND HER FRIENDS . . .171

XIV, THE DEATH OF CHARLOTTE . . . .189
XV. DROWNING SORROW 200

XVI. SIR ROBERT CHAMBERS AND MR. JUSTICE HYDE 218
XVII. THE Go VEBNOB- GENERAL MR. HASTINGS AND

OTHER OLD WESTMINSTER SCHOOL BOYS . 236
XVIII. A PERVERSION OF JUSTICE IN AN EXTRA-
ORDINARY CASE . . . . . • . 247

XIX. WILLIAM BURKE'S TROUBLESOME PROTEGE. LORD

MACARTNEY AND COLONEL WATSON. . . 261
XX. A VISIT TO BOB POTT IN HIS PALACE . . 275

vii

vin

MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

CHAPTER

XXI. LORD COBNWALLIS AS GOVERNOR-GENERAL

AND MORE OF BOB POTT .

XXII. SIR JOHN AND LADY DAY. CELEBRATING
YOUNG RICHARD BURKE'S BIRTHDAY

XXIII. A RIVER EXCURSION. THE FRATERNITY OF

BUCKS. A DREADFUL HURRICANE .

XXIV. THE DOWNFALL OF ROBERT POTT. DAVISON'S

DUELS WITH WILLIAM BURKE AND PREN-

DERGAST .......

XXV. FAMINE IN BENGAL. A DISPUTE WITH THE
FRATERNITY OF MASONS. AN ACQUISITION
TO THE BAR

XXVI. UPHOLDING THE RAJAH OF TRAVANCORE.

COMMODORE CORNWALLIS AND THE ANDA-

MANS. SIR PAUL JODDREL AND

CUMMINGS .....

XXVII. PURCHASING A GRAVE NEAR CHARLOTTE 's.

STRANGE STORY OF A CHAPLAIN AND

UNDERTAKER .....

XXVIII. WILLIAM CANE'S LETTERS FROM FRANCE

INDEX

A

AN

288

299

315

328

342

355

368
380
395

ILLUSTRATIONS

EMILY WARREN (Bos POTT'S EMILY) IN THE CHARACTER
OF THAIS .

Frontispiece

from an engraving by F. Bartolozzi after the famous painting by Sir Joshua
Reynolds

ROBERT POTT 138

From a painting by George Romney, by permission of the owner, the
Rev. Alfred Percivatt Pott

MEMOIKS
OF WILLIAM HICKEY

CHAPTER I

THE VOYAGE FROM LISBON

WE stood out to sea in company with the Expedition
packet, commanded by Captain Dashwood. This
vessel was considered one of the fastest sailers in the service
of Government ; it was therefore very gratifying to us on
board the Raynha De Portugal to see that we rather had
the heels of her. At dusk we had got a good offing ; the
Expedition then left us, bending her course towards England,
while we stood to the south-west, at the rate of eight knots
an hour.

I soon perceived several peculiarities in the Portuguese
mode of managing their ships, some of which appeared to
me extremely awkward, such, for instance, as the command-
ing officer of the watch always walking on the lee side of the
deck, whilst the carpenters, sailmakers, or other workmen
executed their business to windward, thus reversing the
practice of the British Navy, and I believe of every other
European power, nor could they give any reason for so
doing, replying to my questions upon it exactly as the
Chinese did as to some of their uncouth practices, " that
it had always been the Portuguese custom."

The 24th1 we saw two strange sail standing to
the southward ; the 25th a schooner to the east-north-
east which hoisted Russian colours ; the 26th in the
evening saw the Island of Madeira, distant about fourteen

1 24th June, 1782. Ed.
III.— B

2 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

leagues, at which we were to complete the cargo with wine :
at eleven at night hove to. The wind blowing fresh had
raised a high sea, which made the ship roll and tumble about
dreadfully, so that we passed a wretched night. This was
our first sample of what we might expect in bad weather,
convincing us of the probability of Mr. Moore's prediction
being verified. At daylight of the 27th made sail ; at six
passed the east end of the island, and at eight anchored in
the roads of Funchal ; found only three small vessels there,
but soon after we anchored a large ship came in having been
only thirteen days on her passage from Portsmouth.

Mrs. Aldus having asked us to reside at her house during
our stay, we gladly accepted the obliging invitation. At
ten o'clock her husband came on board, to whom she intro-
duced us. We accompanied them on shore to an excellent
house of Mr. Aldus's. After dinner he took us to Mr.
Murray's, the British Consul, to Mr. Murdoch's, Mr. Ach-
muty's, and two or three other gentlemen of the island.
Mr. Murray engaged us to pass the whole of the following
day with him at his country seat about four miles distance,
up a mountain immediately above the town. In the evening
we visited two monasteries, purchasing from the recluses
their ingenious productions ; from whence we went to a
neat theatre where a comedy was very tolerably performed.
My poor Charlotte was sadly annoyed by lizards, an animal
with which Madeira is overrun, some of them of a larger
kind than I ever saw in any other part of the world.

The next day, being the 28th, at seven in the morning we
set off for Mr. Murray's, the gentlemen of our party mounted
upon small horses, the ladies carried by negroes in a sort of
hammock slung upon a long pole, a safe and pleasant sort
of conveyance, indeed the only fit one for females, the road
in many parts being extremely steep, very rough, and awful
to the sight, one side having nothing between the traveller
and inevitable destruction if the horse made a false step so
as to fall, in which case the rider would be precipitated many
hundred feet upon hard rocks at the bottom.

When at the summit of the mountain the danger of getting

AT FUNCHAL. MADEIRA 3

to it is entirely forgotten in the sublimity of the scenery.
Mr. Murray's premises are beautiful and romantic. Mr.
Aldus told us he had expended between fifteen and twenty
thousand pounds upon the house and grounds, a heavy
expence having been incurred by conveying water for
several miles through leaden pipes to his grounds, which
had no springs upon them. Altogether it was as pretty a
spot as I ever beheld. Mr. Murray and his lady entertained
us admirably. After spending a very pleasant day we
crossed the top of the mountain between two and three
miles to Mr. Aldus's country house, where notwithstanding
excessive hot weather we slept cool and comfortable.

The 29th we returned to Funchal to dine with Donna
Guiamara, a Portuguese woman of rank to whom we had
been introduced by Mr. Barrett o. After a very good dinner
she treated us to several sorts of delicious wine, particularly
some malmsey, which she assured us was as old as herself,
that is seventy years, having been made by her father
from his own vintages, and precious liquor it undoubtedly
was.

On the 30th Mr. Barrett o informed us he had shipped
two hundred and forty pipes of madeira, being the quantity
he intended to take, and requested we would all be on board
early the following morning as he proposed proceeding to
sea at noon. We dined at Mr. Murdoch's, a convivial fellow
who made us drink a great deal too much claret. At night
we had a concert, at which two Portuguese gentlemen sung
some of the sweetest duets I ever heard. We likewise had
capital catches and glees.

On the 1st of July after breakfast, bidding adieu to our
hostess, her husband conveyed us on board our ship in a
commodious boat of his own, constructed for encountering
the surf, which is sometimes tremendously high at Madeira.
When we embarked it was so nearly calm the ship dared
not get under way lest the swell of the sea should drive
her upon the rocks, but about three in the afternoon, a fine
breeze springing up from the land, we weighed anchor and
made sail, running from the island rapidly. Charlotte and

4 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

myself were in perfect health, and her favourite maid,
Harriet, had benefited materially at Madeira from the
climate, as well as from Mrs. Aldus's nursing. I endeavoured
to persuade her to remain there, Mrs. Aldus kindly promising
to take care of her until she was quite restored to health,
but no arguments of mine or Mrs. Hickey's could induce her
to forsake her mistress whom, let the consequence be what
it would, she was resolved to follow while life remained.

In a few days after we were at sea I observed a materia
alteration for the worse in poor Harriet, her cough increased,
her spirits flagged, and her appetite totally failed. Thus
she continued gradually sinking to the grave.

The pipes of wine received on board at Madeira not only
impeded the ship's progress by making her too deep in the
water but greatly increased her motion ; at times we rolled
so dreadfully deep it was with the utmost difficulty we
preserved our seats at meal-time.

While at Madeira Mr. Barrett o called upon Mr. Bateman
and me to say Messieurs Kemp and Brown found messing
with the officers of the ship so disagreeable that he should
consider it as a great favour if we would allow them to join
our table, which, if we kindly consented to, he would take
care to furnish with an ample addition of live-stock and
liquors for them. To this we readily acceded, both young
men being perfectly correct and well behaved. From
Madeira, therefore, they became our messmates, their
company proving a great acquisition to us.

Nothing material occurred until the 10th of the month,
when it blew hard, with an immense sea, which occasioned
the ship to roll so deep we were in momentary expectation
of the masts going over her side. The wind being right aft,
we ran in these twenty-four hours two hundred and thirty
miles.

The 13th we had abundance of vivid lightning, immense
numbers of grampus blowing the water up to a consider-
able height in different directions, some of them being within
a quarter of a mile of the ship. At 3 p.m. we saw a sail
from the mast-head bearing east.

CHARLOTTE'S IRREPARABLE LOSS i

The 15th a snow upon our beam steering the same course
as us. At noon she shewed Portuguese colours, at six she
was out of sight astern. Our ship, from constant deep
rolling and labouring very heavily, made several inches of
water every watch. This rendered it necessary to pump her
twice a day.

On the 18th they discovered that the foretop-mast was
sprung. In the act of getting it down a man fell off the
fore yard upon the spars and booms, being sadly maimed
and bruised. The weather was exceedingly squally, and in
a severe gust the main and main -topsails both split. A
good deal of time was lost in shifting them.

During the rest of the month of July the weather continued
boisterous and unpleasant ; an immense high sea made the
motion so violent and quick it was impossible to walk the
deck and difficult to keep one's feet at all. Not a day passed
without some accident of splitting sails or carrying parts
of the rigging.

Mrs. Hie key's servant, Harriet Hammersly, became so
reduced and weak that she was unable to rise from her bed,
and was evidently dying, of which she seemed conscious
herself, but she was quite resigned, and the most patient
sufferer that could be, never uttering a complaint or even
a murmur. Her melancholy and desperate situation gave
my dearest girl great affliction, she being much attached to
her.

On the 1st of August we got the south-east Trade, very
fresh, which drove us at a great rate. On the 3rd the gentle
Harriet was suddenly seized with a succession of fainting
fits, in one of which she breathed her last, expiring without
the slightest struggle or even a sigh. In the evening her
corpse was committed to the deep, the burial service being
read by Mr. Bateman, the whole ship's crew with their
priest attending with the utmost gravity and decorum.
The body was enclosed in a plain neat coffin made by the
carpenters on board.

This was a cruel blow upon Mrs. Hie key, who was so
affected by the death of her favourite and faithful attendant

6 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

that for several days I could not prevail on her to join us at
table or to leave her cabin. The loss was in every way
irreparable.

I found the Portuguese strangely perverse in their manner
of navigating. Although the Trade wind favoured us ex-
ceedingly, seldom being to the southward of east-south-east,
instead of availing themselves of so unusual a circumstance
by going free, thereby letting the ship have fresh way
through the water as English seamen certainly would have
done, they kept her constantly close hauled, the sails every
minute half aback, thereby not only impeding her progress
but unnecessarily tearing both rigging and hull to pieces,
one evil consequence of which was the great increase of
leakage. The weather becoming still worse, we, on the 18th,
being then in the latitude of thirty south, with a threatening
sky and every indication of a gale, a large head sea making
us pitch dreadfully, began to prepare for it by clinching in
the ports fore and aft by fixing dead lights to the great
cabin windows, so reducing us to the unpleasant necessity
of burning candles all day.

The 19th an albatross made its appearance, an immense
bird, I believe unknown in every part of the world except
the high southern latitude. Some of them measure five-
and-twenty feet from the tip of one wing to the other. I
once saw one of twenty-three feet.

On the 21st a seaman fell from the main-topsail yard
when reefing the sail into the sea and was lost.

Our fellow-passenger, the Frenchman, whom I have
already mentioned, proved a valuable acquisition to us,
being a man of general knowledge, deep learning, and
abounding in anecdote.

The 22nd saw a vessel, snow-rigged, Upon our bow, stand-
ing as we did. When about three miles distant we hoisted
an English ensign, which she answered with Portuguese.
The three or four following days we saw a number of Mother
Gary's chickens flying about. There was an immense swell
from the westward.

On the 1st of September our latitude by reckoning was

A BIG SMASH 7

thirty-five, sixteen south ; dismal, dark, threatening sky ;
hard squalls, rain, with an immense sea running, which
made the ship labour very much. Immense numbers of
albatrosses were flying about the ship. By the Captain's
Journal we were now upon the edge of the bank of Cape
Lagullas ; hove to, and sounded, but got no bottom with a
hundred and eighty fathoms of line. As the water continued
much discoloured we sounded every watch, but without
finding bottom until the 4th, on which morning we saw a
gannet, a bird that seamen suppose never goes off soundings,
an idea that was verified with us, for upon heaving the lead
we got ground at sixty fathoms ; a yellow sand.

On the 5th so heavy a sea run we apprehended being
pooped every minute. The ship laboured dreadfully,
tumbling about so that we split the main-sail from the
violent jerks, and soon after both main and f or et op -sails,
after which we ran under the fore-sail alone. The 6th, 7th
and 8th it blew strong, with at times severe squalls, rain
and a sea that seemed disposed to overwhelm us. The
motion was quite horrid. On the 8th one of the main chain
plates broke, which endangered the mast ; all hands were
busily occupied replacing it, a difficult job from the violent
motion. Mother Gary's chickens in every quarter.

On the 9th it blew still stronger, with uncommonly black
sky, the same high sea running, but more confused, the ship
being sometimes struck with great violence. In the evening
the gale increased, attended by severe squalls. At 8 p.m.
Mrs. Hie key, Mr. Bateman, Mr. Kemp, Mr. Brown, Mr.
Barretto and the priest, whom we had invited to supper,
and myself, had just seated ourselves, the chairs being made
fast to the table, and the latter as we thought so well secured
that nothing could move it, when we heard a dreadful crash
upon deck. In the same moment too the vessel took so
desperate a lurch as to tear the table at which we were
sitting from its lashings, and the whole party, chairs, dishes,
plates and all the etceteras were dashed in one promiscuous
heap against the lee side of the cabin. Providentially none
of us received any material personal injury.

8 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

Sad screaming and more noise prevailing upon deck, I
went up to enquire the cause of it. The night was so dis-
mally dark that to discover anything by the eye was
utterly impossible, but I learnt from one of the midshipmen,
a young friend of mine, that in a sudden gust of wind the
fore yard had snapped in two in the slings, the consequence
of which was that the foretop-sail yard gave way and both
sails were blown into ribbons. During my stay upon deck
the main -topmast with all its rigging went over the side,
being immediately followed by the foretop-mast, the main
tack at the same time breaking. These complicated mis-
fortunes I heard of from the people, for seeing was entirely
out of the question.

The dreadful crash of falling masts, with the flapping of
the split sails and melancholy cries of the people struck a
general panic throughout the ship ; nothing but confusion
and despair prevailed, increased not a little by a piercing
cry from below that the pumps were choked and would not
work. A more truly terrible scene could not be ; in fact,
we expected nothing short of going to the bottom. The
greater part of the crew, as I understand is always the case
with Portuguese sailors in times of imminent danger,
abandoned their duty to assemble round their priest, with
whom they joined at the altar, screeching out supplicatory
prayers to their patron saint Antonio, and all the other
saints in the calendar, to have mercy upon them. A few,
however, who possessed more firmness of mind, at the head
of whom was the boatswain, never ceased to exert them-
selves with constancy and firmness. It was by some of them
ascertained upon examination that the alarm relative to
the pumps was without foundation, arising from the car-
penter's fright being so great upon finding the well full of
water that he forgot to pull out a stopper or plug, the
omission of which prevented them from working. We
nevertheless had still evils enough to render our situation
very precarious. In less than one hour the ship, from being
in good order, became an absolute wreck. Not a sail was
left to the yards ; all three top -masts gone and lower rigging

TREMENDOUS SEAS d

torn to pieces ; a dismally dark, blowing night, with a
tremendous sea ; in a high southern latitude and tem-
pestuous part of the ocean ; an increasing leak, and the
ship labouring in such a manner, as to excite a reasonable
apprehension of its becoming still worse, formed such a
complication of evils as to make our bearing up against
them a very doubtful matter.

The error about the pumps being rectified, they were both
kept at work without intermission, affording us the consola-
tion of finding they decreased the water. This had the
further good effect of doing away with the panic that pre-
vailed among three -fourths of the crew.

Upon mustering the people it was discovered that two
were missing, supposed to have been carried away by some
of the heavy seas that broke over the deck. The miserable
men lost were one of the mates to the boatswain and a
common seaman. The voice of the former was distinguished
in the height of the confusion crying for assistance, but none
could be afforded where everybody thought only of his own
preservation. Two other seamen were carried overboard
when the main-topmast fell, but fortunately keeping their
hold on some of the ropes they regained a footing in the
ship, thus being almost miraculously saved from drowning.

The roaring of the wind and sea, our cabin quite wet, and
the natural anxiety from our situation put sleep entirely out
of the question. During the first gust nearly every article
in the great cabin and mine fetched way ; we had con-
siderable difficulty in again securing them, being employed
therein all the latter part of the night. At daybreak I again
went upon deck, where I beheld the forlorn state we were
reduced to. It still blew strong, the appearance of the sky
bearing as threatening an aspect as the preceding day, the
wind at north -north -west, with a mountainous sea, the deck
strewed with broken rigging, which, with bits of torn sails
hung about the lower masts, the only ones Standing.
Altogether it made a wretched exhibition. Upon examina-
tion they discovered that the mizzen-mast was sprung. All
hands were busily employed clearing the wrecks of masts,

10 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

yards, sails and cordage, which occupied them the whole
day. There we lay in nearly the same spot tumbling about
like a log upon the water, one pump being constantly at
work night and day. Fortunately we were strongly manned
in point of number, having one hundred and forty sailors.
The next misfortune was finding both the caps of the main
and fore-mast injured by the top-masts being wrenched
when going, that of the fore-mast materially.

Towards evening the weather moderated, which enabled
the people, who were greatly fatigued, to get some rest and
sleep. Early on the llth their labours were renewed with
fresh vigour, the first thing being to get a main-sail set and
a top-gallant sail for a fore-sail, which gave her a little way
through the water, thereby lessening the violence of the
motion. This day Mr. Barretto called a council of his
officers to deliberate upon the most prudent measure to be
adopted in our critical and dangerous situation, when, after
mature consideration, they were unanimously of opinion
the best thing we could do would be to steer for the Mauritias
as the nearest port. This determination being communi-
cated to the boatswain, he condemned it as highly impru-
dent, observing they might reach India almost as soon as
Mauritias. Besides, the approach to the French islands at
that time of the year was extremely dangerous, and should
we meet with one of the hurricanes so common in approach-
ing the land it must prove the loss of the ship in her disabled
state and, consequently, of every person on board. This
opinion had no weight with any one of the officers, who all
treated it with vast contempt, but in a very different way
did Mr. Barretto view it. He thought it founded in good
sense and fair reasoning.

I own that what the boatswain said carried conviction
to my mind. My Charlotte considered only what she had
understood to be the nearest port, therefore earnestly
wished for the Mauritias, and as the boatswain was not one
of her favourites her dislike to him greatly increased by this
advice of his. In vain I argued in his favour. She was sure
he was a ferocious, horrid man. The fact is that though of

A LEAKING SHIP 11

stern countenance he possessed a mild and benevolent dis-
position, blended with the utmost degree of fortitude in the
execution of the duties of his perilous profession, of which
merit we had subsequently undeniable proof. He proved
our preserver by his zeal and example.

The 12th proved a day of wonderful progress in getting
the ship into some sort of sailing trim. They got up an old
sprung main -topmast, which by reefing it above the injured
part answered tolerably. Before dusk a new sail was bent
to a spare yard, and we began to move through the water
four or five knots an hour. This day they discovered that
another man was lost overboard on the 9th.

The 13th the weather again became very bad ; violent
gusts of wind, rain, hail, thunder and lightning, all of the
severest kind. A short, irregular sea made the motion of
the ship very distressing and considerably increased the
leak, nor could anything be done in the repairs of rigging
or making more sail. This squally, disagreeable weather
continued four days. The carpenter, however, contrived
during it to prepare a new fore-topmast and to fish the
mizzen-mast, so that on the 20th we had once more a toler-
able quantity of sail set . The captain and officers then began
to come round to the boatswain's opinion and admit that he
was right in proposing to stand on for India in preference
to making for the French Islands. The 21st, 22nd, 23rd
and 24th we had a fresh breeze and fair weather. The 25th
it increased to a gale, veering backward and forward sixteen
or eighteen points of the compass, which made a very ugly
cross sea, sometimes breaking over and sweeping all before
it. The leak increased so much as to make it necessary to
keep both pumps at work. The gale continued until the
30th, but being mostly fair we run very fast, which consoled
us for the abominable rolling.

On the 1st of October a large leak was discovered by the
ship's steward in the bread room, which was about two
feet under water, the sea pouring in with an immense rush.
This being immediately stopped, sanguine hopes were enter-
tained that we might do with one pump. We were, however,

12 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

disappointed, not finding the least difference in the quantity
of water every hour. The 7th the wind became moderate
and the sea much smoother. The 13th an immense swell
annoyed us, though without increase of wind. The ship
rolled so dreadfully nothing could remain in its place, and
we were most uncomfortable. The leak became more
alarming, making fourteen inches of water an hour. The
21st, the weather appearing settled, the dead lights were
withdrawn and our cabin once more received the cheerful
light of day.

The 29th at noon we were exactly under the Line, a
circumstance that few persons have experienced. In the
night a great deal of thunder and lightning. At daylight
an amazing number of tropic birds flying round us ; at ten
in the morning a hawk after fluttering about for some time,
apparently exhausted, alighted in the foretop, where one
of the seamen caught it. This was considered a very
extraordinary circumstance, as we were not by reckoning
within many hundred leagues of land.

On the 1st of November at one in the morning we were
taken aback in a sudden squall of wind and rain. Soon
afterwards it fell almost calm, the sea remarkably smooth,
heat intense. Mr. Kemp, whose cabin in the steerage was
small and confined, not being able to sleep, arose from his
cot and went to sit in the quarter gallery for the sake of air.
Whilst looking out of the window he saw something that
appeared very like land upon the lee bow. Going immedi-
ately upon deck, he pointed it out to the officer of the watch,
who was so satisfied of its actually being land that he
directly caused the yards to be braced up, hauled close upon
a wind, and sent to awaken the captain and Mr. Barretto.
At daylight we were close in with two small islands, very low,
being nearly level with the water and covered over with
trees. The nearest to us was within a short mile, bearing
south-east and by south, another somewhat larger about
three miles off bearing south-east and by east. Upon
referring to the charts we found they could be no other
than the Cocos and Hog Island, only a few leagues from

FAULTY NAVIGATION 13

the Island of Sumatra ! We were just eleven degrees to the
eastward of the reckoning, which made them in the meridian
of Ceylon, for which island, as our captain imagined, we
were standing direct.

Fortunate indeed were we in there being so little wind
during the night, for had the weather been such as we had
experienced during the preceding month the ship would
inevitably have plumped on shore, no look-out being kept
from supposing themselves such an immense distance as
eleven degrees of longitude from land and not having the
remotest idea of being upon the eastern coast. So much
for Portuguese navigation and Portuguese reckonings !

At eight in the morning it became very thick, smart
squalls, excessive heavy rain, accompanied by thunder and
lightning. At noon of the same day it cleared up — nothing
to be seen of the islands. At two in the afternoon let the
hawk that was caught on the 30th of November at liberty.
At first it seemed weak and unable to leave the ship, but
after hovering about near an hour it flew off with great
velocity in the direction the land lay. Soon after the hawk
was released another land bird alighted on one of the yards,
which the people called a king'sfisher. This day we ran
through an immense quantity of seaweed. At sunset very
high land was seen from the masthead, bearing east.
Several flights of birds went by in different directions.

The serious mistake as to the situation of the ship was a
sad disappointment to us passengers, as we had flattered
ourselves with the hope of reaching Columbo in a few days,
whereas we might now be many weeks ere we got into port,
all the directories stating light airs and calms of long dura-
tion as being prevalent off the coast of Sumatra in the
months of November and December. We were the more
uneasy at this from our stock of provisions and the ship's
water being nearly expended. For a wonder the precaution
of bending a cable to an anchor was taken.

On the 2nd it was quite calm, and we were in terror lest
it should continue. The 3rd the same, with extreme sultry
weather. We endeavoured to beguile the anxious hours by

14 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

fishing, such shoals of fish were close round us that with
baskets lowered into the sea we caught a vast number of
small ones, some of which were beautifully marked and of
the most brilliant colours.

On the 4th our captain was seized with a violent fever,
supposed to have been brought on by anxiety of mind and
fretting at finding himself so egregiously out in point of
longitude. It soon affected his brain, and he became so
outrageous that it was necessary to tie him down in his
bed, sentries constantly watching to see that he did not
break loose. In his frenzy he threatened death and destruc-
tion to every person that approached him. The strength
he showed was quite wonderful, for he was a very slight -
made man. Three different times he freed himself from the
straps that bound him, when it was quite as much as four
powerful fellows could do to hold him.

Our latitude on the 4th was three forty-four north. Soon
after daylight of the 5th a drift was discovered about three
miles off, which had the appearance of a ship's mast or
lower yard : got out our yawl and rowed to it, when it was
found to be the trunk of a large tree that must have been
long in the water, being much decayed and entirely covered
with barnacles and different kinds of shell-fish . In the after-
noon saw two more drifts which we passed close to and
perceived them likewise to be trees. Caught a beautiful
sea-snake.

The 6th we had light airs of wind, an appearance of
strong current from great rippling of the water ; calm in
the night, the heat quite overcoming and oppressive. The
7th a light air again. At six in the morning saw the land
from east to north and by east distant about eight leagues :
from the form and height knew it to be part of the Island
of Sumatra, and supposed it not far from Acheen Head.
This showed that we must have had a great set to the
northward and eastward ; remarkably strong rippling at
times. The sea for many days had been smooth as a river,
but now a high swell suddenly assailed us from the south-
west, which indicated its having blown hard in that direc-

SNAKE BROTH 15

tion. The ship tumbled about sadly, making a great deal
of water. Caught two snakes which made excellent broth.
This day a look-out was kept, being the first time of such
a precaution the whole voyage.

The 8th light winds but squally ; thunder and lightning :
part of Sumatra bearing from east -south -east to east ; the
Island of Pulo Brasse, north-east, distant seven leagues. In
the afternoon it fell calm, continuing so all night. The 9th
light airs ; Pulo Way, east -south -east, seven leagues : find
the current still sets to the eastward. At noon saw the
Grand Nicobar, bearing from north-north-west to north-
west, distant twelve leagues. At sunset we were within six
leagues of it, which determined Mr. Barrett o to put in there
for water and poultry. We hoped to effect it the following
morning. At dusk it fell calm, the sea roaring and in par-
ticular parts breaking as if over a sand or shoal. The
appearance was exceedingly alarming. In one of these
ripplings the ship was turned round several times as if in a
whirlpool, which indeed I conclude we were. Sounded
twice, but did not find bottom with an hundred and twenty
fathom of line. Our latitude this day, by observation, was
six twenty-nine north.

The 10th, instead of having the harbour of the Grand
Nicobar open and we ready to anchor within it, as we fully
expected, we had the mortification to learn that the current
during the night had set us so violently to the westward
that we were at least five leagues to leeward of the island
we had the evening before been abreast of . At noon sounded ,
found a bottom of grey sand at forty fathoms. The wind
was baffling, sometimes being so favourable as to encourage
the endeavour to work up to the harbour.

Thus we continued the whole day. In the evening we
were once more well in with the land when it again fell
calm, the current proving as hostile as it had been the pre-
ceding night. In the morning we were at least seven leagues
to leeward. Another day was lost in fruitless attempts to
work up to windward ; we gained not a mile. Mr. Barretto
therefore resolved no longer to attempt getting into the

16 MEMOIRS OP WILLIAM HICKEY

Nicobar, but stand directly across the bay for Point de
Galle, or if we failed making that to put into Columbo,
which was at the southern point of the Island of Ceylon.
Directions were accordingly given for that purpose to the
chief mate, the captain being still confined to his cabin from
weakness, though he had recovered his senses.

The moment I heard the order given, and found that the
ship was put before the wind, I felt a presentiment of the
evils that awaited us. At dinner that day I observed it
was highly probable we might encounter the breaking up
of the monsoon, as we unfortunately were at the critical
time when such a thing might be expected every hour, added
to which it was near the change of moon. For delivering
this opinion I was laughed at by all my messmates except
Mrs. Hickey, who, having been in the habit of relying upon
whatever I said, became alarmed and uneasy. Mr. Brown
was particularly smart in his comments, called me a croaker,
and added, " Suppose we have a storm, what matter ? We
have already experienced more than one, yet here we are
still, and why not surmount half a dozen more ? ' ' This speech
was greatly applauded by his friend Kemp and by Mr.
Bateman. I then showed Mr. Brown the accounts of the
most remarkable hurricanes that had occurred in those
seas, as recorded in the East India Directory, and the dread-
ful consequences of some of them, at which he again scoffed,
pronounced those records to be either fabrications or pre-
posterously exaggerated, and that he did not believe a word
of them. I merely observed that the Directory was pub-
lished under the sanction and authority of the Court of
Directors, therefore not likely to misrepresent facts, besides
which the lamented loss which the British fleet under
Admiral Pocock sustained in ships and men, also that of
the French commander, Bourdonnois, was too well known
to admit of a doubt. Equally notorious was the more recent
loss of the Chatham East Indiaman in Madras roads, where
every soul on board perished.

For six succeeding days after we bore away from the
Nicobars we had gloomy, threatening weather, sometimes

WELCOME RAIN 17

blowing strong in squalls, then suddenly falling quite calm,
remaining so only a few minutes, when a violent gust suc-
ceeded ; heavy showers of rain fell, which was very accept-
able, furnishing an abundant supply of water, of which all
hands were greatly in want.

III. — C

CHAPTER II

TERRIBLE TIMES ABOARD

AT daylight on Sunday the 1 7th of November (a memor-
-<LJL_ able day to me), finding as I lay in bed the motion of the
ship particularly uneasy, I got up to look out, and never
to the last day of my existence shall I forget the shock I
experienced at what I beheld. The horizon all round was
of a blackish purple, above which rolled great masses of
cloud of a deep copper colour, moving in every direction
with uncommon rapidity ; vivid lightning in every quarter,
thunder awfully roaring at a distance, though evidently
approaching us ; a short, irregular sea breaking with a
tremendous surf, as if blowing furiously hard though then
but moderate, the wind, however, whistling shrill as a
boatswain's pipe through the blocks and rigging. The
scene altogether was such as to appal the bravest men on
board. Going upon deck I found a dead silence prevailing,
not a syllable uttered by anyone, all looking in stupid
amazement. Not a single precaution was taken, no dead
lights to the great cabin or quarter gallery windows, not
even a top-gallant yard down ; on the contrary, every sail
set, notwithstanding they reckoned themselves within a few
leagues of Ceylon, for which they were standing direct, and
all this strange neglect at a time when a British vessel would
have struck everything that could be and made all snug as
possible in order to be the better able to receive the shock
that was so perceptibly coming upon us.

In great tribulation I returned to my cabin, telling Mrs.
Hie key to secure anything she was particularly anxious
about and prepare herself to undergo severe trials. I had
a small strong mahogany escritoire in which I kept my

18

A DREADFUL HURRICANE 19

letters, papers of consequence and a few trinkets and valu-
able articles I had. This I jammed in between two of the
projecting knees in my cabin in such a manner that until
the ship went to pieces it could not be thrown out of its place.
At seven we each of us swallowed a dish of tea, being the
last and only refreshment we had for many subsequent
sorrowful hours.

Although all violent tempests are in a great measure alike,
partaking of the same circumstances and consequences as
those I have already had occasion to attempt a description
of, yet this was so peculiarly dreadful, and our escape with
life so wonderful, that I am led to relate the melancholy
particulars. At eight in the morning it began to blow hard,
torrents of rain pouring down, rendering it almost dark as
night. Then was an order first given to take in top-gallant
sails and reef topsails. The order was too late ; the instant
the sails were lowered they were blown to atoms, being torn
from their respective yards in shreds. The sea suddenly
increased to an inconceivable height, the wind roaring to
such a degree that the officers upon deck could not make
themselves heard by the crew with the largest speaking-
trumpets. Between nine and ten it blew an absolute
hurricane, far surpassing what I had any idea of. As it
veered all round the compass so did the sea increase infinitely
beyond imagination, one wave encountering another from
every direction, and by their mutual force in thus meeting
ran up apparently to a sharp point, there breaking at a
height that is actually incredible but to those who un-
happily saw it. The entire ocean was in a foam white as
soap-suds. At a quarter before eleven the fore-topmast, yard
rigging and all went over the side, the noise of it being
imperceptible amidst the roaring of wind and sea. In a
few minutes it was followed by the mizzen-mast, which
snapped like a walking-stick about eight feet above the
quarter-deck ; part of the wreck of it unfortunately got
foul of the rudder chains and every moment struck the
ship's bottom with excessive violence. At half -past eleven
the fore -mast went, being shivered into splinters quite down

20 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

to the gun-deck. The fall of it drew the main-mast forward,
whereby the levers upon which the pumps worked (as they
do in all ships built in the East Indies) were totally de-
stroyed, putting an end to our pumping. Before noon the
main -mast and bolt-sprit both went at the same instant.
Thus in the short space of four hours was this noble vessel
reduced to such a state of distress as few have ever been in.
Our situation seemed hopeless, not a creature on board but
thought every minute would be the last of their lives. When
the masts were gone she immediately began to roll with
unparalleled velocity from side to side, each gunwale, with
half the quarter-deck, being submerged in water each roll,
so that we every moment expected she would be bottom
uppermost or roll her sides out.

Thus buffeted about on the angry ocean, I told my poor
Charlotte, whom I had secured in the best way I could and
was endeavouring to support, that all must soon be over, it
being quite impossible that wood and iron could long sustain
such extraordinary and terrific motion, and such were my
real sentiments. The dear woman, with a composure and
serenity that struck me most forcibly, mildly replied, " God's
will be done, to that I bend with humble resignation, blessing
a benevolent providence for permitting me, my dearest
William, to expire with you, whose fate I am content to
share, but oh ! my dearest love, let us in the agonies of death
be not separated," and she clasped me in her arms.

Mr. Bateman, at the commencement of the gale, had gone
upon deck, from whence he dared not again venture to stir,
but was obliged to lay himself down under the wheel and
there remain. Mr. Kemp and Mr. Brown had lashed them-
selves to the gun rings of the aftermost part in the great
cabin to prevent their being dashed from side to side.
Whilst thus situated, three out of the five stern windows,
frames and all, suddenly burst inward from the mere force
of the wind, the noise attending which was such that I con-
ceived the last scene of the tragedy was arrived, but awful
as that moment was, the recollection of the way in which
Mr. Brown had doubted the facts stated in the Directory

WHOLESALE DESTRUCTION 21

relative to the hurricanes at the breaking up of the monsoon
recurred so forcibly that I could not help saying to him,
" Now, Mr. Brown, I think you can no longer entertain a
belief that the accounts in the Directory are fabricated or
exaggerated." He made me no answer, but raising his hands
clasped together looked the very image of despair.

The ship was apparently full of water, and seemed to be
so completely overwhelmed that we all thought she was fast
settling downward. Nevertheless the velocity and depth
of her rolling abated nothing, tearing away every article
that could be moved ; not a bureau, chest or trunk but
broke loose and was soon demolished, the contents, from
the quickness and constant splashing from one side to the
other of the ship, becoming a perfect paste, adhering to the
deck between the beams, many inches in thickness, so as
near the sides actually to fill up the space to the deck.
Amongst the furniture destroyed was a large bureau with
a book-case top belonging to Mr. Barretto, in which were
deposited the whole of his ship's papers and his own private
ones, scarce a remnant of any one of which was saved.

During the severity of the hurricane about twenty noble
fellows, such as would not have disgraced the British Navy,
at the head of whom stood the boatswain, acted with the
same determined spirit they had shown on the 9th of Sep-
tember, doing all that could be performed by men, while the
rest of the crew gave themselves up to despair, clinging round
their priest and screeching out prayers for pardon and mercy
in such dismal and frantic yells as was horrible to hear. So
eager were the miserable enthusiasts to embrace the image
of Jesus Christ upon the Cross (which the priest held in his
hand) in the instant of their dissolution that they in their
endeavours so to do actually tore it to pieces .

By two in the afternoon every bulkhead between decks,
except that of my cabin, had fallen from the violent labour-
ing of the ship. The altar also being demolished, an end
was thereby put to the functions of the despairing priest.
The reason of my cabin standing when every other yielded
was that being the state room it partook of the general

22 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

strength of the vessel, being erected at the time of her
building and as firmly fixed as her decks, but the folding
door that opened into the great cabin was soon torn off
its hinges and broken to pieces, exposing to our view the
foaming surges through the great cabin's stern windows.
My darling girl sat like patience itself, though drenched to
the skin and covered with filth from the washings that
burst into our cabin.

At this awful hour did it occur to me what I had some-
where read that death by shipwreck is the most terrible of
deaths. The spectacle of a field of battle is lofty and im-
posing— its glittering apparel, its martial music, its waving
banners and floating standards, its high chivalric air and
character elevate the soul and conceal from us the dangers
of our situation : stretched on our death-bed, enfeebled by
sickness, our sensibility becomes enfeebled also, and, while
heavy shocks shake the body and make it to the bystander
seem to suffer, nature throws over the soul the kindly shroud
of a happy insensibility, while the closed shutter, the tiptoe
tread and whispered attendance shut out the world we are
so soon to leave. But in a storm at sea the scene is not
more terrible than disgusting, in a miserable cabin, on a
filthy wet bed, in a confined and putrid air, where it is as
impossible to think as to breathe freely, the fatigue, the
motion, the want of rest and food, give a kind of hysteric
sensibility to the frame, which makes it alive to the slightest
danger. No wonder, therefore, it should be so to the greatest
of all. If we look round the miserable group that surround
us no eye beams comfort, no tongue speaks consolation, and
when we throw our imagination beyond — to the death-like
darkness, the howling blast, the raging and merciless
element, expected every moment to become our horrid
habitation — surely, surely it is the most terrible of deaths !

It is a remarkable circumstance that upon the fore-mast's
going and the confusion and panic that ensued the captain,
who had for so many days been confined in a delirium and so
reduced that he could not without assistance turn in his bed,
on being told what had happened, and that the ship was

GETTING RID OF THE GUNS 23

sinking, instantaneously recovered vigour both of body and
mind sufficient to allow not only of his jumping from his
cot but going upon deck, where he issued his orders with as
much, or perhaps more, precision and skill than he had done
during any part of the voyage. The first order he gave was
by every possible means to lighten the ship. The sea
indeed had already done much towards it for us by carrying
off the whole of the masts, yards, rigging and everything
that was upon the upper deck. An attempt was therefore
made to throw the guns overboard, but only five were so
disposed of, and those at the imminent risk of the lives of
the men from the excessive motion. An attempt was like-
wise made to start the madeira wine. The two first men
that went into the hold for that purpose were immediately
jammed in between two pipes and killed, after which no
other would try. After exerting himself in a wonderful
manner the captain, by one of the violent jerks from a tre-
mendous sea breaking on board, was thrown down with such
force as to break his right arm and receive a severe contusion
on his head, which rendered him insensible. The chief
mate, an active, clever seaman, was early in the gale carried
away by a sea, washed forward, but luckily brought up in
the galley under the forecastle, where he remained covered
with wounds and bruises. The second mate was not seen
after eight o'clock, it was therefore concluded that he had
been carried overboard and lost. It, however, did not turn
out so. He, apprehending nothing could save the ship, had
shut himself up in a small booby hutch, or cabin, just abaft
the helm upon the upper deck, where he spent the day
between the brandy bottle and prayer book. The third
officer had throughout showed the utmost fortitude and
energy, sinking at last completely overcome by fatigue, and
remained secured by a rope on the spot where he fell.

One of the most active persons on board was the French
passenger of whom I have before made mention. He
betrayed equal skill and resolution, suggesting and helping
to carry into effect several things that proved of material
use. This unfortunate man was particularly forward in

24 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

the endeavours to throw the guns overboard, in doing which
one of them grazed his shin, making a slight wound in
appearance, the skin being a little broke, which neither he
himself nor any one else that saw it considered of conse-
quence. It, however, caused his death, as I shall hereafter
state.

Mr. Barretto, as I have already observed, was no seaman ;
he, however, much to his credit, resolved to set his people
an example by exposing his person to the raging element.
He therefore remained upon the quarter-deck, lashed to
the side, endeavouring to cheer and encourage the few
sailors that were ready to do all in their power to prevent
the ship from foundering. Thus he remained until two in
the afternoon, when he fainted away, whereupon the people
cast off the rope with which he was secured and were about
to convey him between decks when at the moment an
enormous wave came over the stern, sweeping them all
away. Two of the poor fellows were irrecoverably lost, and
for some time everybody thought Mr. Barretto had shared
the same fate. He was, however, found amongst part
of the broken rigging upon the forecastle in a state of in-
sensibility, from whence he was with extreme difficulty
carried between decks. Thus hour after hour passed with
us in utter despair, but still to our amazement we remained
afloat, which seemed to us little short of a miracle for a
ship in such a state as ours was, so tossed about at the mercy
of such a sea as never was seen, so involved in ruin and deso-
lation on every side, making too, as she did before the
hurricane commenced, thirty inches of water every hour,
and not a single stroke of a pump after half -past eleven in
the morning ; nor could anybody account for her not going
to the bottom but by supposing she actually rolled the
water out of her as fast as it came in.

At six in the evening the fury of the storm had somewhat
abated, though not sufficiently to afford us a hope of ever
seeing another day ; our surprise only was at surviving from
hour to hour without the least expectation of escaping
finally from a watery grave.

A LAMENTABLE SIGHT 26

At eight at night the gale had evidently subsided or, to
use a seaman's language, it had broken up. This encouraged
the few men who had throughout behaved themselves like
heroes to further exertions. At the imminent risk of their
lives some of them went over the stern and ultimately suc-
ceeded in cutting away considerable quantities of the rig-
ging, sails and yards that got so entangled with the rudder
and rudder chains as totally to prevent the ship's steering,
by which our danger of foundering from the overwhelming
sea was greatly increased. They also afterwards accom-
plished the throwing overboard fourteen more of her guns
besides much lumber from between decks, by which the
ship was importantly benefited, the rolling being less rapid
and not so deep. By midnight the sea had gone down a
great deal, and the people were enabled to keep their legs
enough to rig out one pump and set it at work. This being
kept constantly going, the water did not gain upon us,
which gave everybody fresh spirits, and for the first time
since the commencement of the tempest we began to enter-
tain a hope of preservation. At break of day the clouds
moved with great velocity, but were light in comparison to
what we had seen. It still blew very strong, and there was
a large confused sea, yet when we thought of what it had
been it appeared as nothing, besides it was hourly getting
more moderate.

Upon going upon deck, oh, what a lamentable sight was
there ! The first object I saw was the boatswain and some
of the seamen bringing Mr. Barretto aft in a hammock they
had put him into. It was an arduous task as the ship was
still rolling very deep, and he so sore that he cried out upon
the least pressure or anything touching him. They at last
got him into the great cabin, in the centre of which they
hung the hammock with him in it.

Mr. Bateman spoke of the conduct of the boatswain in
terms of enthusiastic panegyric, adding that he was per-
fectly sure we owed our preservation solely to his extra-
ordinary powers, superior skill and persevering labour. He
declared that he appeared to him to be more than human ;

26 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

notwithstanding the rapidity and the violence of the motion
he was everywhere encouraging by his laudable example
those men that were disposed to lend their aid. At the
commencement of the hurricane the boatswain, finding none
of the people could govern the helm, took it himself, nor
quitted it for an instant while the ship would steer, but
upon the wreck of the masts entangling with the rudder,
thereby rendering it useless, he turned his thoughts to other
points of duty. At two in the afternoon (of the 17th) this
valuable man was given up for lost. He had managed to
get forward and had just entered the door of his cabin,
which was erected upon the small deck forming the fore-
castle, and directly over the galley, having gone there for
the purpose of recruiting his strength by drinking some
brandy, when one of those huge seas of which so many had
before broken on board came bursting over her quarter in
such a prodigious body as to carry the cabin entire as it
stood overboard. The boatswain, however, appeared a few
moments after saying that having observed the approach
of the wave which he was aware would break over the ship,
upon its actually doing so he threw himself off the forecastle
to the galley, letting the sea pass above him, and so escaping
the rush of it that must otherwise have carried him with it.

By ten in the morning (of the 18th) a bright sun shone
forth, the sea became less agitated, and we began to enter-
tain confident hopes. But to counteract this unexpected
good fortune I found my dearest Charlotte much indisposed
and feverish, nor could that be wondered at considering
what she had suffered, drenched in wet for such a length of
time, and not having a single change of clothes or an article
of dress left, all being destroyed, as were mine also, in the
common ruin.

Amidst such complicated and general distress it was
scarcely to be expected that any particular attention would
be paid to a single individual, although that individual was
a female, but so great a favourite had my darling girl made
herself throughout the ship by the peculiar gentleness and
suavity of her manners that from the moment a chance of

CHARLOTTE'S TRIALS 27

escape from drowning appeared she became the first object
and immediate care of, I may safely say, everybody on
board. Before nine o'clock in the morning (of the 18th)
the carpenter, with three men to assist him, were at work
in our cabin ; by noon they had repaired the bed and got
the whole apartment into some sort of order with a canvas
to roll up as a substitute for a door, whereby she could once
more be in private. Whilst this was going forward Mr.
Bateman entered, having in his hand a tin pot of madeira
wine, made hot, which he had contrived to get prepared,
and, what I considered of still more consequence, a pair of
blankets only half wet, which he had procured from the
gunner. He advised me to make Mrs. Hickey directly
swallow the wine and then lay down between the blankets
and endeavour to get that rest she stood so much in need of.
This advice was too prudent not to be adopted, but with
all my influence I could not persuade her to touch the
madeira until I took the half of it myself, when she cheer-
fully drank the remainder of the comfortable beverage,
declaring it to be the most reviving and grateful draught
she had ever tasted, nor can that be wondered at when it
is recollected that, added to all our other miseries, we had
been from two o'clock in the afternoon of Saturday until
Monday noon, a period of forty-six hours, without the least
particle of nourishment passing our lips, except one
wretched dish of tea on Sunday morning. After she had
swallowed the wine I made her lay down between the
blankets, where she fell into a profuse perspiration, soon
dropped asleep for a couple of hours, and then awoke
greatly refreshed.

Having thus contributed all in my power towards her
relief, I joined in searching amongst the heap of rubbish
in the great cabin for anything worth preserving. We
soon collected from thence a parcel of six-and-thirty shilling
pieces, or half Joes as they are called in Portugal, two
watches and various bits of gold and silver ornaments and
trinkets. After ransacking in a mass of dirt so blended
together that it was difficult to separate for a long time, I

28 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

got hold of a small tin case, much bruised but unbroken.
This I took to Mr. Barretto as he lay in his hammock, who
joyfully exclaimed it was the ship's papers. He requested
I would carefully open it, and, should they be wet, get them
dried, as they were of the utmost importance to him. I
directly set about it, but alas ! they were totally useless,
the ink being entirely effaced although written upon parch-
ment, most of the papers separating into pieces in attempt-
ing to unfold them. The only one that was at all legible,
and that only partially, was Mr. Barretto 's Portuguese
naturalization.

Having lent my aid for the service of my friends, I next
thought of my own concerns, and accordingly went to look
after my escritoire, which I found in the spot I had placed
it, and so firmly wedged in that I was obliged to have
recourse to the carpenter to extricate it. Upon opening it
and examining the contents I found that everything in the
way of paper was completely destroyed except three letters
that I had received after all the others, and put into a leather
pocket-book. My watch had sustained no other injury than
what arose from the salt water which ruined the works or,
as boys call it, " the guts." What I lamented above every-
thing else, though of no intrinsic value, was the loss of a
large book in which I had copied the journals of every
voyage I had made, and the remarkable circumstances that
had occurred. This was utterly destroyed, as well as my
admission as an Attorney of the Court of King's Bench and
Solicitor of the Court of Chancery which were in it.

The boatswain upon going over the ship's side to examine
her condition found she was more than three feet lighter
than when we sailed from the Island of Madeira, this great
difference arising from the loss of the masts, yards, sails
and rigging, also from the guns and other heavy things that
were thrown overboard. In consequence of her being so
much more buoyant the leaks decreased to nineteen inches
of water an hour, a quantity that was easily cleared by the
pumps, the other being put in order as soon as the storm
ceased.

CASUALTIES OF THE STOEM 29

Thirteen of the crew lost their lives, the greater part of
them, as was conjectured, being washed overboard. Besides
the two persons killed by the pipes of wine, three other bodies
were found in different places, two of them under the beams
upon which the boats had been stowed, the third between
the coppers and ship's side, a space of only a few inches
wide. It was a shocking spectacle, for being so jammed in
by the working of the ship the intestines were squeezed out
and the head forced completely round, the face being
towards the back. These miserable corpses were committed
to the deep in the afternoon.

Nothing in the way of eating could be found except ship's
provisions of salt beef and damaged rice, which had been
wetted by the sea water ; yet such as it was we were glad to
partake of it, making at least a plentiful meal. We were
reduced to the necessity of eating with our fingers, for not
a knife was to be found the first day. We afterwards pro-
cured two from the seamen. After our salt meat and rice
we took a good quantity of brandy and water, and at seven
in the evening lay down upon our bed, both of us sleeping
sound for several hours, and that, too, in spite of an eighteen-
pounder which was fired every half -hour through the night
as a signal of distress to any vessel that might chance to be
within hearing. They had considerable difficulty in making
the gun go off, the sea having found its way into the maga-
zine, as it had into every part of the ship.

I rose at five on the morning of the 19th much refreshed ;
my Charlotte was also better than I expected. It was a
beautiful morning, little wind and the sea gone down. While
looking out I was very agreeably surprised at seeing Mr.
Barrett o come up, assisted by his servant. He complained
of violent pains all over him, but said he could not remain
in the hammock, it was so intensely hot.

Mr. Brown looked very pitiful upon my just hinting at
the dreadful scene we had all witnessed. He said, " Dreadful
indeed, past all belief, never can I in future doubt the power
of wind, of which until now I had not the least idea. Pray
God I never may experience such another instance of it ;

30 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

indeed, one such is surely enough for a man's life." It was,
however, this poor young man's lot to meet with a second
hurricane, in which he perished. About two years after he
had been at Bombay he was attacked with the liver, which
so reduced him that he was ordered to sea, and embarked
in a very fine ship for Bengal, two others sailing at the same
time and keeping company. When off Point Palmiras in
the Bay of Bengal the south-west monsoon broke upon
them with such irresistible force that in four hours after it
commenced the ship he was in foundered, every soul being
lost, nor could the other ships afford the smallest assistance,
themselves expecting a similar fate every moment.

To return to the woeful Bayriha de Portugal. Every
creature on board was busily and earnestly engaged in
endeavouring to get some sail set upon her so as to give her
way through the water. Part of her cargo consisting of
canvas and cordage, the after hatches were opened to get
at them, for circumstanced as we were the underwriters
could not with propriety object thereto, it being for the pre-
servation of both ship and cargo. The gunner happened to
have two small spars which he had stowed away in the gun-
room as part of his own private trade. These were got out at
the gun-room pert, which was opened for the purpose. One
of them was soon set up in the place of the fore-mast, the
other lashed to the stump of the mizzen-mast. In about
five hours two small square sails were roughly put together.
The wind being at east -north -east, we set our canvas,
standing direct for Ceylon, from which it was supposed we
could not be far distant. During the afternoon we went
through the water at the rate of half a knot an hour.
Our latitude this day, by observation, was eight three
north.

In the afternoon I saw our French passenger, whose leg
had been hurt by one of the guns when throwing it over-
board in the hurricane, sitting upon the deck in the steerage
bathing the injured part with a mixture of vinegar and
brandy, afterwards covering it with coarse brown paper
made wet with the same composition. Observing a con-

ASSISTANCE IN DISTRESS 31

siderable degree of inflammation round the wound, I took
the liberty unasked of advising him to consult the surgeon
of the ship, as I had always understood it to be dangerous
to neglect such things in a hot climate. He civilly thanked
me for my solicitude on his account, but wholly declined
applying to the surgeon, whom he considered an ignoramus
in his profession, adding, " I am too old a campaigner, sir,
and have been too often cut up and maimed in every part
of my body, where no surgical aid was procurable, not to
know how to treat myself in a much worse case than this.
Be assured, sir, my recipe is better than any of the nonsense
the faculty would apply. Brandy, vinegar and brown paper
do wonders." Whether it was that the bone itself was
seriously injured or his habit of body from living long upon
salt provisions operated, the wound became daily worse,
so much so that I predicted bad consequences.

Through the 19th nothing material occurred. The
morning of the 20th I was awoke by the sound of boat's
oars. Rising and looking out of the quarter gallery window,
I had the pleasure to see a boat just coming alongside and
a large brig close to us. Going upon deck, I learnt that it
was the Governor Hermsfelt, a Danish vessel bound from
Serampore in Bengal to An jingo. She had been drawn to
us by our guns. They had not felt any of the hurricane,
but from a dreadfully high and confused sea and threaten-
ing sky knew there must have been bad weather near
them, and therefore bore up upon hearing a gun several
times, concluding it came from some vessel in distress.
She supplied us with some articles of the utmost conse-
quence for navigating our ship, that is three large spars
and three lesser ones to make into yards, which proved of
great use, also with an anchor and cable, of which we had
only one, the rest having been cut away to ease the ship in
the hurricane and the cables thrown overboard with other
things to lighten her. Comforts she had none to bestow,
having no live-stock at all. She, however, sent us a small
barrel of pickled pork and a bag of biscuit, the latter a great
treat, although old and full of insects. They also gave us

32 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

the bearings of the land according to their reckoning, but
they had not seen any since Point Palmiras.

Upon consulting with the commander of this vessel he
advised Mr. Barretto not to go to the southward, but to
steer for Trincomalay, which was nearly under our lee, and
by much the nearest port, for as the current now set to the
northward we should make a bad hand in such a crippled
state by attempting to make for Point de Galle or Columbo.
Having given us all the assistance in his power, he proceeded
on his voyage. According to his account we were nineteen
leagues from the land, thrice the distance we supposed.

The 21st continued moderate and fair. This day one of
the large Danish spars was fixed as a main -mast, another as a
bolt-sprit, the smaller ones being used as yards, and having
made two tolerable-sized sails we ran forty miles during the
twenty-four hours. The 22nd the weather still fine, we ran
forty-seven miles. If, therefore, the reckoning of the Danish
captain had been correct we ought to have seen the land.

It now struck me as not a little extraordinary that we
never heard a prayer. Upon leaving Lisbon we had them
regularly five times daily, which continued until our disaster
off the Cape on the 9th of September, after which they only
had them morning and evening, and from the time of the
hurricane prayers were altogether dropped. This was very
curious in so bigoted a people as the Portuguese are known
to be.

The 23rd and 24th were nearly calm. On the latter day
the last cask of provisions was broached, and abominably
bad it proved, for the pickle having leaked out the meat
was become rotten. We had only four butts of rain-water
remaining, and they were so strongly impregnated with tar
as to be scarce drinkable, making us all very sick. Thus
situated, without a single shift of linen or any other article
of clothing, it may easily be imagined how anxiously the
land was looked for.

In the night the people on deck, observing a strong rippling
on the water, they hove a cast of the lead and were surprised
to find we were in twelve fathoms ; at daybreak of the 26th

GIVING UP HOPE 33

we were close to the land, with breakers within a mile of us,
and as the current was driving us towards them very fast
we came to with the Danish anchor and cable. As the
26th was a dead calm we remained fast, firing a gun every
half -hour. The morning of the 27th the same, but hi the
afternoon a light breeze springing up from the south-east
we got under way and ran along shore. We saw smoke rising
from two different places a little way inland, but not a living
creature appeared though we were within three miles of the
beach. At sunset an extremely heavy shower of rain
furnished a seasonable supply of water, which we stood in
great need of.

The 28th was a mixture of calms and hard squalls. We
got under way and anchored three different times ; there
was a very heavy black sky, having a windy appearance,
that excited our fears of another gale. Happily, however,
it turned to torrents of rain accompanied by violent thunder
and lightning. On the 29th we had fair weather but scarce
any wind. All hands now began to despond, no kind of
provision being left except damaged rice, and but a small
quantity of that, so that we thought of starving instead of
drowning. This day Mr. Barretto broached the madeira
wine, serving out a pint to each man in the ship, which
recruited their strength greatly, and indeed they stood in
need of it, not having had a drop of spirits since the hurricane.

Ill — D

CHAPTER III

r

IN THE HANDS OF THE FRENCH

ON Saturday the 30th we had a charming breeze from the
eastward ; at daylight saw high land bearing north-west,
which some of the people declared they knew from its form
was near Trincomalay. By our latitude at noon we found
it must be so, as we were in eight degrees thirty-nine minutes
north. We therefore stood boldly into a bay that appeared
open before us, and soon after discovered the entrance to
the harbour. We fired a gun every ten minutes, and made
the best display we could of an ensign with the arms re-
versed as signals of distress, though the appearance our ship
made must have sufficiently indicated that.

At one in the afternoon we plainly discovered the French
flag flying in a fort upon the summit of a hill. Mr. Barrett o
imagined this to be a deception on the part of the English,
not thinking it possible they could have suffered so im-
portant a place to be wrested from them by an enemy, but
at 3 p.m. we were convinced such was the case by a French
and a Dutch pilot coming on board and taking charge of
the ship. They informed us that the place had been taken
in the preceding month of September by Admiral Suflxen,
the British garrison having surrendered upon the French
troops landing.

Before we could get into the harbour it fell calm ; we
therefore let go the anchor, soon after which a French officer
came on board, who expressed the utmost astonishment at
the dreadful situation he saw the ship in, his attention being
particularly drawn to the sort of paste I have already men-
tioned formed by the splashing from side to side, as the ship
rolled, of the contents of chests, trunks, et cetera, and which

34

TO TRINCOMALAY IN CHARGE 35

had completely filled up the space between the beams on
each side, gradually decreasing in quantity towards the
centre of the cabin. He enquired what occasioned so extra-
ordinary an appearance. Being told, he smiled incredulously,
but being assured such was the fact he again expressed his
surprise that any vessel could have outlived a gale that had
produced effects as marvellous as unprecedented. He seid
he would immediately report the lamentable state we were
in to the Chevalier Des Roys, the acting Governor, who he
was certain would give us all the assistance in his power,
and which our unparalleled misfortunes so well entitled us
to. He, however, observed that they were themselves very
badly off with respect to fresh provisions, their only certain
food being salted meat and rice. He likewise told us there
was only one ship of war at present there, the Consolante
frigate and a Dutch Indiaman.

The following morning, being Sunday the 1st of December,
our ill-fated Raynha de Portugal was warped into the har-
bour, one of the finest in the world, of extent enough to
receive secure from all danger all the ships of war of
Great Britain, being completely landlocked, with excellent
anchorage and deep water close to the shore.

Mr. Barrett o, although by no means recovered from the
effects of his accident, the hour the ship was safely secured
went on shore to pay his compliments to Mr. Des Roys. I
availed myself of the opportunity to write to the Governor,
representing to him the uncomfortable state we were in on
board, in want of even the common necessaries of life, both
as to food and clothing, and that Mrs. Hie key was much
indisposed, for all which reasons I requested we might be
permitted to reside on shore. In a couple of hours Mr.
Barretto returned with a very gloomy countenance, telling
me nothing was to be expected from Mr. Des Roys, who
had received him with the utmost hauteur, and behaved
insolently ; that so far from fulfilling the promise of the
officer by affording us assistance, he said he entertained
such strong suspicions respecting the ship's being English
property, as well as the cargo, that he was determined to

36 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

detain her until the arrival of the General (the title the
French always gave Monsieur Suffren) or of General De
Bussy, who was daily expected from France. After such
bad success on his own business he presented my letter,
which the Governor, seeing it was written in English, threw
upon his table. Of course, I had no answer.

Whilst speaking to Mr. Barretto upon this inhuman con-
duct and telling him I would go in person and state my case
to the savage chief, we saw two boats approaching from
the frigate, one filled with sailors the other with military
men. They all came on board and took possession of the
ship, placing a sentry with his musket and bayonet fixed
at each gangway, with orders not to allow any person
whomsoever to pass without the sanction of the French
officer on board. The seamen then unhung our rudder,
which they towed on shore. My blood boiled with rage at
this unworthy treatment, but complaints were of no avail.

The French commanding officer on board was a very
gentlemanlike young man, lieutenant in the regiment of the
Isle of France, his name L'Anglade. He was quite shocked
at the situation in which he found Mrs. Hie key, without
food, without clothing, or the common comfort of a female
attendant. After expressing his concern thereat in very
feeling terms, he said something must and should be done
for the poor lady's relief, it being a disgrace to Frenchmen
to permit a female to remain an hour in so unbecoming a
state ; that the whole of the passengers ought also to be
relieved. Asking for pen, ink and paper, he sat down and
wrote two letters, one to Monsieur Malle, the captain of the
Consolante, the other to Monsieur Chevillard De Montesson,
the Port Captain, or, as the English would call him, Master
Attendant. Having dispatched these letters, he observed
privately to me that Monsieur Des Roys was universally
disliked on account of his unaccommodating temper and
unsociable manners, but was known to be an officer of
merit and one of the ablest engineers in the service, having
been very instrumental in the capture of the place, for
which Monsieur Suffren had rewarded him with the

SYMPATHY FROM FRENCH OFFICERS 37

temporary government ; that he had acted with such
tyranny in the office as to leave himself without a single
friend. This was bad news for us.

Captain Malle upon receipt of Monsieur L'Anglade's letter
immediately got into his barge and came to our ship,
bringing with him tea, coffee, sugar, chocolate, biscuits,
liqueurs and various other articles for the table, also some
pieces of white cloth, which, though rather coarse, proved
very acceptable. A capital meal was prepared, being the
first we had seen for a fortnight, to which we did justice by
eating very heartily. Whilst at this repast Mr. Chevillard
came alongside with a quantity of fruit and eggs, a few fowls,
some fish, and, what was more acceptable than all, a small
loaf of excellent bread. Upon seeing the miserable state
we were in he was as indignant as Mr. L'Anglade had been,
swearing he would go to Mr. Des Roys and in the name of the
King call upon him to act more like one of his liberal nation.
No one could be more attentive and kind than these three
gentlemen, by whose benevolent care my darling girl's
sufferings were greatly alleviated.

On the 2nd before ten o'clock in the morning Mr. Chevillard
was again with us to say he had been ungraciously received
by the Governor, who at first peremptorily refused to allow
any passenger to leave the ship until he had Mr. Suffren's
sanction for it, but upon his (Chevillard's) remonstrating
against such brutal treatment towards an unfortunate female
stranger, he consented to let her land. " If, therefore," con-
tinued this good man, " you will put Mrs. Hie key under my
care she shall be treated like a daughter and receive every
accommodation the miserable hovel I inhabit will admit of.
I will, if you please, take her and her servant on shore
immediately." How his surprize was increased upon my
telling him Mrs. Hie key's female attendant had died on
board ship soon after we left Madeira, and that she had
ever since been without a servant ! He expressed his con-
cern at what she had undergone in the most feeling language.
Truly grateful for his good intentions, I said I would speak
to Mrs. Hickey, but apprehended she would not consent to

38 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

leave me, and so it proved, for upon mentioning what Mr.
Chevillard proposed she declared she would rather die on
board ship than go on shore without me.

During Mr. Chevillard's visit the Consolante's barge came
alongside, bringing ladies' shoes and stockings, with a
variety of different sorts of cloth and four tailors, who forth-
with began to cut out and sew, so that by the following
morning Mrs. Hie key was very comfortably rigged. They
then set to making some shirts, etc., for me. Not satisfied
with these munificent acts, the generous Captain Malle
presented Mrs. Hie key with a trunk, which having seen
deposited in her cabin, he instantly departed to avoid our
grateful thanks. Upon opening the trunk we found it con-
tained two complete suits of woman's apparel which the
considerate and kind-hearted man had procured from
Mrs. Vansenden, the Dutch chief's wife, who being about
Mrs. Hickey's size her clothes answered admirably well
without alteration. From this lady, as well as her
husband, we afterwards received innumerable instances of
kindness.

Not a day passed without Mr. Chevillard's visiting us,
always bringing some little matter that he thought might
prove acceptable, especially bread, of which very small
quantities were made, owing to a scarcity of flour. A few
of the French officers by every means in their power did all
they could to correct the ferocity of Mr. Des Roys, all of
them assuring us the restraint would cease the hour any
line of battleship came in, and that one was daily expected.

Amongst those who showed us the most marked attention
was Captain Gautier, who had a company of grenadiers in
the regiment of Pondicherry. He early became greatly
attached to both Mrs. Hie key and me, which he testified in
various ways. He was indefatigable in his endeavours to
obtain Mr. Des Roys' leave to let us reside on shore, and
would have succeeded had it not been for the violence of
Mr. Bateman, who addressed several intemperate and dis-
respectful letters to Mr. Des Roys, which so offended that
haughty man that he withdrew his half -given consent.

MELANCHOLY NEWS 39

Captain Gautier in the first instance requested that I would
let him be my banker, an offer I availed myself of with
gratitude.

Captain Malle, upon seeing Mrs. Hie key and myself clad
more to our satisfaction than when we arrived, made us
promise to pass the following day with him on board his
frigate, observing at the time he gave the invitation that
although he had not the power of controlling Mr. Des Roys
in what related to matters on shore, he could act indepen-
dently of him upon the water. The 10th was therefore spent
very agreeably on board the Consolante, where we met
several military gentlemen. The company very consider-
ately and like well-bred men avoided speaking upon politics
before me and Mrs. Hie key, but while walking the deck in
the evening I learnt from one of the junior lieutenants that
there had been four hard-fought engagements between
Monsieur Suffren and Sir Edward Hughes 's fleets, in every
one of which the English had been defeated ; that Madras
was at the time he was speaking closely invested by a well-
appointed, well-disciplined French army, while, on the
other hand, the miserable garrison pent up within the walls
of Fort St. George were daily dying in scores from disease
and famine ; that they were in hourly expectation of hear-
ing the place had surrendered, and only waited the arrival
of a reinforcement of men, then on its way from the Isle of
France, under the command of that brave and experienced
general, Monsieur De Bussy, to extend their conquests to
Bengal, there being no doubt but that in a few months the
English would be routed out of all their Eastern possessions.
This was a melancholy history for me, and from the fall of
Trincomalay, as well as Suflren's fleet appearing to ride
triumphant and unopposed in those seas, I really feared it
was but too true, and that the British sun was near setting
in the East !

One of the guests who sat next to me at dinner informed
me that the Governor was rendered more inexorable than
he otherwise would have been towards us by a very insolent
letter that Mr. Bateman had addressed to him, wherein after

40 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

many rude things he charged him in plain terms with showing
an interested partiality in my favour, I being allowed to visit
about, going when and where I pleased, whilst he was most
unjustly kept a close prisoner on board a wreck of a filthy
Portuguese ship. Surprized and irritated at this intelligence,
on returning to the Raynha de Portugal I asked Mr. Bateman
whether what I had heard was true. He answered that it
was, impudently insinuating it was the charms of Mrs.
Hie key (though perhaps unintentional on her part) that had
occasioned such evident and unjust partiality to us. This
was more than I could patiently submit to ; a violent
quarrel ensued in which I did not spare him, giving my
opinion of his behaviour in the strongest language. From
the best friends we became inveterate enemies.

I thought it right, in consequence of what I had heard,
to write Mr. Des Roys to assure him I had never been out
of my ship except the one day to dine on board the Con-
solante, to which letter I received an immediate and polite
answer lamenting that he had not the possibility of granting
lodgings on shore to all the English passengers, and that he
considered it cruel in Mr. Bateman to insult him because he
so cautiously avoided partiality to any person.

Captain Gautier from his fondness of everything English
had made himself tolerably well acquainted with our
language, indeed wonderfully so considering he had no
parole instruction whatsoever, acquiring all he knew from
books. The following letters from him to me will show his
proficiency as a self-taught scholar.

" DEAR SIR,

Having no possibility to procure a loaf to Mrs. Hickey
to-day I pray Mrs. Hickey to engage her to accept some biscuits,
part from this country and part from the Island of Bourbon.
To-morrow afternoon without fail I will send to Mrs. Hickey
some good loaves, but as our baker does not make bread every
day, that is the reason for which I cannot get to-day for sending
on board ship. Here are joined some lemons, the only I can
find on the market, and a little pot of candy sugar for the use
of Mrs. Hickey when she will take her tea. I pray Mr. Hickey

CAPTAIN GAUTIER'S FRIENDSHIP 41

to present my duty to his amiable lady and be convinced of
my desire to be useful to him. With these sentiments I am of
Mr. Hickey the most humble and most obedient servant.

GAUTIEB."

" I would be very grateful if Mrs. Hickey was good enough
to give me the two songs she had so agreeably sung two days
ago. I hope I will have the honour to see her to-morrow.
Soldiers' manoeuvres engages my less agreeable hours through
the current day."

Another as follows :

" DEAR SIB,

I did not answer your letter yesterday because it was
delivered me up by a Mr. Vansenden's black servant. I send
you this morning two hundred and fifty rix-dollars by a sure
envoy. That sum is within a small matter of equal value as
that you are wanting for the payment of your debts. I am very
glad of rinding that opportunity to be useful to you, and would
have heartily desired to have sent you a more considerable sum,
and to offer the same relief to your fellow-countrymen, but as I
am to make war in India and to depart perhaps in a few months
for beginning the campaign, I cannot divest myself of a greater
quantity of money. As for the payment, I pray you to send me
a bill to my order, of which bill I will make no use but in those
bad circumstances which the war can procure me. It is only a
provisional care against the events of this world. If you arrive
at your destination without further misfortune, of which already
you have endured so too large share, you will bethink yourself
on the means fit for my payment. I only assure you that I
would be very sorry if it ever was chargeable to you. I pray
you to present my respects to Mrs. Hickey. I send her a loaf.
She will receive more to-morrow. I have the honour to be,
dear sir, your most humble and most obedient servant.

GAUTIER."

" I would have desired to find an English saddle to buy on
your ship if possible ; you will oblige me to procure it
for me."

42 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

A third is in these words :

" DEAB SIR,

With the greatest pleasure I have heard of the better
health of Mrs. Hickey. Monsieur Malle, that I have had the
pleasure to see yesterday, told me that she was perfectly re-
covered, and that she showed the day before yesterday all the
gaiety of her humour when she is well. I cannot express you
how much I have been concerned about her bad situation. The
last time I have had the honour to pay my duty to her I was
very less affected with her sickness than with the grief she
appeared to me troubled with. Her distemper was a little
tribute payed to a new climate, but her grief was caused by the
bad circumstances which she and you are lying under. I beg
to hear that she is low spirited no more. I hoped some days
past that I could inform you of the grant of going ashore at Mr.
Chevillard's, but an impolite remonstrance from Mr. Bateman
to Mr. Des Roys has been an obstacle for his goodwill to procure
to Mrs. Hickey the satisfaction of breathing the land air. What
is to be done on the matter, dear sir ? Nothing but patience.
Were you with Mrs. Hickey alone on board a ship you would
have received that permission, but the difficulty to give proper
lodgings to other passengers and the fear to do an injustice about
your countrymen are the only causes of your detaining. I pray
you, my dear sir, not to speak at all about the matter, because
I should be very sorry to be mingled any way in Mr. Bateman 's
letters. My character as a military man hinders me to act
according my desires. I have sent to Mr. Malle some pounds of
coffee from Bourbon. I hope Mrs. Hickey will be good enough
as receive them from me. It is a trifling thing, and she never
will be persuaded how much I would desire to render her situa-
tion the less hard possible. I desire my humble respects to her.
And I am with the greatest sincerity of friendship, dear sir, your
most humble and most obedient servant.

GAUTIER."

The day after our entertainment on board the Consolante
Mrs. Hickey complained of violent headache, sickness at
her stomach, with an acute pain in her back and limbs. I
found by the languor and quickness of her pulse she had a
considerable degree of fever. I therefore expressed my

CHARLOTTE'S ILLNESS 43

extreme uneasiness to Mr. L'Anglade, enquiring whether
medical assistance was procurable. He answered they
fortunately had a gentleman of first-rate abilities, Mr.
De Boissieres, their surgeon-major, who had the chief super-
intendence of the hospital in which were a great number of
sick and of badly wounded officers and private men, and he
would write a note to request his immediate attendance.
He accordingly did so, and before noon that gentleman came
on board. He was a man of excellent address, with the
appearance of a person of fashion. After seeing Mrs. Hie key
he told me her disorder was a bilious fever, then very
prevalent, by which he had lost many people in the hospital,
but as he found no particularly bad symptom about her,
and the disease was met at so early a stage, he trusted, and
had little doubt, but he should be able to check its progress.
He directly wrote a prescription, giving it to the surgeon
of the Consolante, who was present, to make up. He stayed
not only until Mrs. Hie key took it but to see the effect,
which having completely answered his wish he went on
shore, saying he would return by five or six o'clock. Upon
his return in the evening he appeared surprized and alarmed
at the great increase of fever. He remained by her bedside
the whole night, administering the medicines himself.

Early in the morning Mr. De Boissieres was obliged to
attend some surgical operations at the hospital, but came
to us again at eleven, bringing with him a Malay woman,
one of Mrs. Vansenden's servants, to wait upon my poor
invalid. This was a prodigious acquisition, for although she
spoke not a word of English she perfectly understood
attending a sick chamber, was indefatigable in administer-
ing the different medicines to a minute as directed by the
doctor, and in every other point attentive as the most
assiduous European could have been.

On the third morning Mr. De Boissieres told me he was
under serious apprehensions, for notwithstanding every
medicine completely answered its object still the fever did
not yield in the least, preying so much upon the general
system that she was visibly sinking, and that unless a favour-

44 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

able change took place before the following morning, of
which he had scarce a hope, I must prepare for the worst.

These were sad tidings, attached as I was to my revered
companion. With an aching heart I watched through
another night without a glimmering of hope to cheer me.
As long as her intellect remained perfect she in the most
placid yet tender language endeavoured to console me,
assuring me she should do well, conjuring me not to fret
and to take some rest. Although too evidently labouring
under agonizing pain, she allowed no complaint, not even a
sigh, to escape her lest it should increase my misery.

Two more days passed in this manner, when she became
delirious, whereupon Mr. De Boissieres with great tender-
ness told me he feared a very few hours would finally close
the scene. He nevertheless continued his exertions with
the utmost assiduity and kindness. Anxious to watch any
favourable moment that might offer, he directed the sur-
geon of the Consolante to attend the sick and wounded in
the hospital while he took his former station by my poor
favourite's bedside, with his fingers upon her pulse, adminis-
tering restoratives as the vibrations fluttered through the
day. In the evening she lay in a state of torpidity. The
doctor, however, said as she still respired faintly he would
continue to apply stimulants as the forlorn hope. Every
five or ten minutes he poured a glass of red wine down her
throat, so that by midnight she had swallowed a bottle and
a half, then falling into a quiet slumber. Before morning
she opened her eyes, when looking earnestly towards me
who was standing by her side she feebly took hold of my
hand and endeavoured, but in vain, to put it to her lips.

Mr. De Boissieres having retired just before to get a little
sleep, I instantly summoned him. The moment he saw and
felt her pulse he pronounced the crisis favourably past and
that she was safe unless a relapse occurred, to avoid which
she must be kept quite free from agitation or noise. The
event confirmed his opinion ; in four days I had once more
the extreme felicity to clasp my adored girl to my bosom
with no other remains of her disease than the languor and

RESIDENCE ON SHORE 45

weakness consequent on so severe an attack in such a
climate. To the very eminent abilities and unwearied
attendance of Mr. De Boissieres I certainly was indebted
for the life of my Charlotte. This worthy and excellent man
unfortunately took an active part in the abominable and
bloody revolution, to which he finally fell a sacrifice, being
one of the many who fell under the stroke of the fatal and
destructive guillotine in Paris.

By the 23rd my dearest love being perfectly recovered,
we again accepted an invitation of Captain Malle's and dined
on board the Consolante.

The 24th the Dutch Indiaman sailed with a cargo of rice
for Cuddalore, which the French had also recently taken
from us, aided by the native powers hostile to Great Britain,
and where both garrison and inhabitants were in the utmost
distress for food, the famine which raged along the coast of
Coromandel having extended to that part of the country,
making dreadful havoc amongst the wretched natives.

On Christmas Day a signal was made from Osnaburgh Fort
of the approach of two large ships ; at ten in the morning
the Vengeur, a sixty-four, commanded by Captain Cuver-
ville, and the Pourvoyeuse, a forty -four gun frigate, com-
manded by Captain Trommelin, anchored in the harbour,
having left the remainder of Mr. Suffren's fleet at Acheen
completing their stock of poultry and other necessaries.

Our steady and zealous friends of Trincomalay represent-
ing the harsh treatment the English passengers of the
Raynha de Portugal had experienced from Mr. Des Roys,
at which Mr. Cuverville seemed much hurt, he, as his rank
in the Navy made him superior to Mr. Des Roys, forthwith
issued an order for our being allowed to go whithersoever
we pleased, an order Monsieur Chevillard politely brought
to us himself, conducting Mrs. Hickey, her Malay girl, who
Mrs. Vansenden insisted should attend Mrs. Hickey while
she remained at Trincomalay, myself and Nabob in his own
boat to his house, if such a title could be applied to the
wretched hovel. It had thentofore been the residence of
a Dutch pilot, and consisted of a hall or centre apartment,

46 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

having a small one at each corner, the walls quite bare, not
even plastered, neither roof nor sides being watertight :
certainly my poultry in Calcutta were far better lodged ;
such as it was, however, it was generously given. Two of
the corner rooms were allotted to Mrs. Hie key and me.

No such thing as gauze being procurable to make curtains
of, and there being myriads of mosquitoes, some defence
against the stings of those tormenting little insects was
absolutely requisite. Our attentive host therefore caused
two large English flags to be sewed together, which was
fixed over our bed, answering the intended purpose but
keeping us dreadfully hot. Although at the very edge of
the sea, we scarcely ever got any fish, which I never could
account for. Our richest dish at table was wild hog, a
delicate though high -flavoured meat, of which we had great
abundance.

Captains Cuverville and Trommelin came to visit us as
soon as their respective ships were moored. Both were men
of family, the former about fifty years of age, the other
quite young. Captain Cuverville was an uncommonly
pleasing-mannered man, who soon became a favourite of
Charlotte's, and not less so with me. Indeed, we should have
been ungrateful had it been otherwise, as he always treated
us with the most marked and polite attention.

The day after the arrival of the two ships I received the
following letter from Captain Gautier :

" BEAR SIR,

Yesterday I received by Mr. Touris the kind remembrance
of Mrs. Hickey, and I was informed by the same way that you
have at last been landed with the grant of living at Mr. Chevil-
lard's. I heartily congratulate you both upon so agreeable an
event, and I would have been to dine with you if I was not
obliged to receive Mr. Cuverville and other officers who ought
to come to dine with us to-day. It would have been a very
pleasant thing to me to pray you to come and increase the good
company which I am to meet with, but as it is impossible, no
more of that. To-morrow without fail, if the weather is not
rainy, I will go to pay my duty to Mrs. Hickey and dine with

CHARLOTTE'S HORSEMANSHIP 47

our common friend, Chevillard. If I can be useful to you, or to
your charming consort, I pray you both very truly to let me
know your wants or desires. You cannot imagine the pleasure
with which I would desire to find some opportunity to convince
you of the sincerity with which I am,

Dear sir,

Your most humble and most obedient servant,

GAUTIER."

" I pray you to remember me kindly to Mrs. Hickey. I most
heartily wish you both an happy, good and merry year. We
must hope that our bad circumstances will be finished with the
end of the present."

I found the game of trie trac, which Captain Paardakoper
of the Held Woltemade taught me, of use in beguiling time
at Trincomalay. Almost all Frenchmen play it. I usually
spent two or three hours every day playing with Mr.
L'Anglade, Captain Mevillard, Mr. Bedell (both belonging
to the Vengeur) and other officers, both naval and military.

Captain Cuverville brought with him from Acheen two
beautiful little horses which were intended for Admiral
Suffren. They had been broke in for the saddle, gentle as
lambs, with paces so easy one might almost sleep on their
backs when going at the rate of eight or nine miles an hour.
Their pace was a short quick step called ambling, practised
in general in America and the West Indies. Captain Cuver-
ville sent these delightful animals to Mr. Chevillard's, re-
questing that Mrs. Hickey and I would use them until Mr.
Sufrren's arrival, which we were glad to do. Nothing con-
tributed so much to the complete re -establishment of her
health and spirits as our daily rides about a country full as
luxuriant and romantic as any in Jamaica. The French
gentlemen were in raptures at the graceful style in which
my dearest girl managed her nag, collecting together in a
crowd to see us set out on a morning. I certainly never knew
a female to surpass her in horsemanship.

Captain Cuverville made frequent parties for us to a
distance of twenty miles and upwards. The harbour of

48 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

Trincomalay abounds with creeks that run in every direction
inland to a distance in many parts of more than an hundred
miles, the shores on both sides, though in the state nature
formed them, bearing the appearance of the most improved
and highly cultivated land. Captain Cuverville on the even-
ing preceding any of these intended excursions always dis-
patched some of his sailors and servants in one of the ship's
boats with a petty officer to explore the neighbourhood we
were to visit, and when they reached any particularly pretty
spot they were directed to land there and fix the tents they
carried with them, being three in number — one for the party
to assemble and eat in, another for the exclusive use of Mrs.
Hie key and me, the third for the rest of the gentlemen to
sleep in. These previous matters being arranged, plenty of
cold provisions and liquors being also sent off, we then pro-
ceeded in the ten-oared pinnace, a pair of very good French
horns entertaining us with their music from her bow, the
company being sheltered from the piercing rays of the sun
by a stout awning. The woods in Ceylon are full of excellent
game, abounding with the cock of the wood or jungle fowl,
than which there is not a more delicious bird in the world.
We also caught plenty of admirable fish of various kinds.

We usually remained upon these truly pleasant parties
three days, spending the mornings in strolling through the
thick groves, sometimes embarking in the boat and rowing
a few miles up the creeks, whilst some of the gentlemen
pursued the sports of hunting, shooting, or fishing, con-
stantly bringing abundant proofs of their success and in-
dustry. About one o'clock we assembled at dinner, our
table being supplied with fish, a variety of game, and wild
hog. Thus we lived capitally well. In the evening we
repeated our walks or rowed about until dusk, when we
returned to the tents, drank coffee, then engaged at cards,
trie trac and music as different fancies led ; at nine we
supped upon cold things, after which singing filled up the
time until the hour of retiring.

Everybody was delighted with Mrs. Hie key's vocal
talents, the most admired pieces being "No, t'was neither

TIME PASSES MERRILY 49

shape nor feature," " Kate of Aberdeen," " Auld Robin
Gray," " Tally Ho ! " and many other songs from English
operas, all which she executed with great taste in a sweet
and plaintive voice, which was materially assisted by flute
accompaniments, Messieurs L'Anglade and Bedell perform-
ing inimitably well on that instrument. The whole party
were so particularly pleased with the then favourite hunting
song of " Tally Ho ! " that various attempts were made to
translate it into French, but all endeavours failed from the
utter impracticability of doing justice to this line, " The
patriot is thrown in pursuit of his game," the last word
presenting an insuperable difficulty, it not being found
possible to give the full force of it and at the same time
keep the measure of the music, the great object they had
in view.

Mr. and Mrs. Vansenden, who resided in the Fort of
Trinoomalay, distant from the harbour about half a mile,
frequently invited us to their house, where we always met
cheerful, pleasant parties. With so many persons exerting
themselves to amuse their English visitors time passed
merrily away.

Ill— -E

CHAPTER IV

\

ADMIRAL SUFFREN

ON the 1st of January, 1783,;a large Dutch ship arrived
from Malacca with a cargo of rice. On the 14th the
Gonsolante sailed for Point de Galle in order to bring back a
similar cargo with the addition of some flour. She returned
on the 17th of February accompanied by the Apollo frigate
of thirty-six guns from Europe, which had brought out a
large quantity of marine stores for Suflren's fleet, also the
Naiade frigate of twenty-six guns, likewise from France with
dispatches for the French admiral. On the 18th the Forti-
tude, an English East Indiaman which had been captured
in the Bay of Bengal by one of the French cruisers, came in,
and the same evening arrived a large grab called the Blake,
commanded by Captain Light, who afterwards became
Governor of Prince of Wales 's Island, or Pulo Penang. The
Blake had been taken by an enemy's cruiser off the coast
of Coromandel.

In the morning of the 20th a signal was hoisted at
Osnaburgh for an approaching fleet, and at eleven Admiral
Suffren with his squadron entered the harbour, exhibiting
a very grand spectacle. It consisted of the Heros, of seventy-
four guns, on board of which his flag, as commander-in-
chief , was flying ; the Hannibal, a seventy-four, bearing the
the distinguishing flag of the Count de Bruyere, as second
in command ; the Illustre, seventy-four, with the broad
pennant of the Count Adhemar ; the Ajax, sixty-four ;
Artisien, sixty-four ; Sphynx, sixty-four ; Flamand, sixty-
four ; Severe, sixty-four ; the Le Fin frigate, thirty-two
guns ; the Blandford, an English East Indiaman (a prize)

50

RECEIVED BY THE ADMIRAL 51

with two English brigs and two schooners, all captured at
different times.

Immediately after the fleet came to an anchor I went off
in Mr. Chevillard's boat to the Heros in order to pay my
compliments to Mr. Suffren. Upon getting on board I was
shewn into an apartment similar to what in our East India-
men is called the cuddy, directly before the round house,
where were already assembled several commanders and
officers of the fleet waiting for audience upon matters of
duty. Upon my entering the cabin an attendant asked my
name, which given he instantly went in to announce to the
Admiral. Five minutes after I was admitted to the after
cabin, where Mr. Suffren was sitting at a table having a
number of papers upon it which he appeared to be inspecting;
his secretary, Mr. Launay, and other persons were writing
at the same table. He received me with the most engaging
attention and politeness, and, pointing to a chair, desired
I should be seated until he finished some matters of business
that required dispatch. I apologized for my unseasonable
intrusion, observing that as I broke in upon him I would
take some other opportunity of paying my respects when
he might be less occupied. With the utmost good-humour
he said he should be at my service in a quarter of an hour,
and requested I would sit till then. Of course, I did so, and
this afforded me an opportunity of observing his extra-
ordinary dress and figure. In appearance he looked much
more like a little fat, vulgar English butcher than a French-
man of consequence ; in height he was about five feet five
inches, very corpulent, scarce any hair upon the crown of
his head, the sides and back tolerably thick. Although
quite grey he wore neither powder nor pomatum, nor any
curl, having a short cue of three or four inches tied with a
piece of old spun-yarn. He was in slippers, or, rather, a
pair of old shoes, the straps being cut off, blue cloth breeches
unbuttoned at the knees, cotton or thread stockings (none
of the cleanest) hanging about his legs, no waistcoat or
cravat, a coarse linen shirt entirely wet with perspiration,
open at the neck, the sleeves being rolled up above his

52 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

elbows as if just going to wash his hands and arms ; indeed
I concluded in my own mind that he had been broken in
upon and interrupted whilst at his toilette, but afterwards
ascertained that he always appeared as above described
during the morning.

Having quickly dispatched the business he was engaged
in, he dismissed the gentlemen that had been employed
upon it, when, drawing his chair close to mine, he apologized
for having detained me so long. He then made a number
of enquiries relative to my situation in life, the circum-
stances of my voyage from Europe, and so forth, observing
he believed the Eaynha de Portugal must certainly be con-
sidered as an undoubted seizable ship — nay, from Colonel
Des Roys' statement respecting her, which was one of the
papers he had under consideration when I entered, he con-
ceived he must make a prize of her. I thereupon mentioned
the manner in which myself and the other English passengers
had procured accommodation on board the ship at Lisbon,
and that we had so done under the perfect conviction that
she was to all intents and purposes a Portuguese. To this
he replied that let the determination be what it might
respecting the ship and cargo, which he again said probably
would be a condemnation of both, it should not affect the
British subjects on board her, for although he might, and
perhaps ought, in strict justice in such case to consider and
treat us as prisoners of war, he would not treat us as such ;
on the contrary, he would give permission for us to proceed
to the places of our respective destinations by the earliest
opportunity that offered. He condescended also to express
great concern at the situation Mrs. Hie key had been reduced
to during the monsoon gale, and how much his inclination
led him to alleviate our sufferings by every means within his
power.

During my interview with Mr. Suffren several letters and
messages were delivered to him ; fearful therefore of tres-
passing, I rose two or three times to depart, but he each
time made me resume my seat, saying he had yet many
things to enquire about. Our conversation then continued

A QUESTION OF NEUTRALITY 53

for upwards of an hour, when the Count de Bruyere being
announced, the Admiral observed he must unwillingly break
off our conference for the present, as the Count came to
speak upon official business. He requested I would dine
with him the following day, and come early, as soon after
twelve as I pleased, and he would have some further conver-
sation. He then wished mo good morning, and I left the
cabin. In passing through the cuddy I saw, amongst a
number of others, Mr. Bateman, waiting in the hope of an
introduction, but which I heard he did not, to his extreme
anger and mortification, effect until two days after.

At the commencement of my interview with Mr. Suffren
I spoke English, having been informed he understood and
spoke it a little. He was, however, often at a loss for words
to express what he wished to say, at which he seemed
rather impatient, saying in French, " Surely you under-
stand something of French which is in such general use in
England." I answered that I understood it tolerably, but
spoke it very badly. He replied he was certain we should
do better with what I called my bad French than with the
abominable, indeed unintelligible, English of his. From
that time we always conversed in his language, and he, like
a true Frenchman, was pleased to pay me many compli-
ments. His behaviour towards me was at all times exceed-
ingly affable and pleasing.

In the afternoon Mr. Barretto called to shew me a letter
he had written and intended sending to Mr. Suffren, wherein,
after giving a circumstantial account of himself, of his ship,
and the cargo on board, he begged to be honoured with a
personal interview, when he had no doubt he should be able
to satisfy his Excellency that no possible suspicion as to
the neutrality of the vessel could remain upon his mind.
This address, which struck me as being admirably well
written, being sent to the Admiral, an answer was immedi-
ately returned through the secretary naming an early hour
the next morning but one at which the Admiral would receive
him on board the Heros.

When I went on shore from my first visit to Mr. Suffren

54 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

I found several boats laying opposite Mr. Chevillard'e house,
all having poultry in them which had been sent from the
Heros and other ships as more likely to thrive upon land
than stuffed up thickly in coops on board. The whole of
them had been laid in at Acheen, where fowls are uncom-
monly large and fine, the Malays being famous breeders.
They were together in bundles of about a dozen, which
being carried within the enclosure of Mr. Chevillard's
premises, the strings with which each of their legs were
tied were cut and the bird set at liberty. The first use made
of this was a general engagement, each fowl attacking his
nearest neighbour with the utmost fury, fighting most
desperately, sometimes changing antagonists, and continu-
ing the battle until so exhausted that neither of the com-
batants had strength left to peck at each other, many of
them actually falling down as if dying. It was a most
ridiculous sight to see about a thousand pair of fowls thus
hostilely conducting themselves towards each other. The
violence of the conflict was not entirely at an end for two
days ; on the third, however, profound peace prevailed, as
if by general consent they became reconciled, eating their
rice and picking up the small gravel together in perfect
amity.

The 21st while sitting at breakfast Mr. Launay called to
say Mr. Suffren requested I would be on board by half -past
eleven if not inconvenient, which I promised to attend to.

Mr. Chevillard's house was now a constant scene of bustle
and confusion, being crowded from morning to night with
the officers and seamen on matters of business, a change
far from agreeable to Mrs. Hie key and myself, both pre-
ferring the tranquillity and quiet we had thentofore enjoyed,
with the society of half a dozen very worthy men. I had
reason to think many of the persons made a pretence for
coming, hoping to get a sight of the beautiful and accom-
plished Englishwoman, for under such description she had
been represented. She could not stir from home without
being overwhelmed with fulsome compliments.

At eleven I went off to the Heros, and was directly shewn

SIR EDWARD HUGHES'S CHARACTER 55

into the Admiral's apartment, where I found him exactly
in the same deshabille as on the preceding day. The con-
versation began by his telling me the Raynha de Portugal
would be detained as a prize. He said he had fully investi-
gated her case, in which he found so many strange and
suspicious circumstances that he could not without a dere-
liction of his duty do otherwise than arrest her. I observed
to the Admiral that Mr. Barretto had requested me to
accompany him on the morrow at the time he was to be
honoured with an audience respecting the rights he claimed
as being neutral property, but that I had not accepted the
call from an apprehension that he (Mr. Sufiren) might deem
it intrusive on my part, whereupon the Admiral with great
vivacity answered, " Intrusive ! by no means, Mr. Hie key !
On the contrary, I am happy to hear that you are to be
present, and I readily add my entreaties to those of Mr.
Barretto that you will be so."

Mr. Suffren then asked what was my opinion respecting
his naval opponent, Sir Edward Hughes. " For," he said,
" I have been very much astonished, Mr. Hie key, to hear
several of your countrymen speak in cool, if not disrespectful,
terms of that commander, whom I have always considered
and found to be a brave, skilful, and in every respect a very
able officer. It has been my fate to be opposed to him in
three different hard-contested battles, in every one of which
Sir Edward Hughes, in my humble opinion, gave positive
proofs that he possessed consummate skill and abilities,
equal to any man's I have ever had to deal with in my
profession. His manners and general conduct, too, has
uniformly been that of a brave and gallant officer, blended
with the mild and benevolent disposition of a truly philan-
thropic citizen of the world."

Again the Admiral asked what were my sentiments
respecting the English admiral. I replied that I was by
no means competent to give an opinion, being altogether
unacquainted with his merits or demerits, but judging by
the reports of the public prints his character with the people
was that of being a diligent, zealous and gallant officer.

56 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM RICKEY

"And such a character he surely is deserving of," said
Mr. Suffren, " a braver man does not live. I, however,
cannot but feel surprized that such a man as Sir Edward
Hughes can submit to being controlled by a person every
way so vastly inferior to him as is the Governor of Madras,
Lord Macartney. You, Mr. Hickey, I presume may have
heard how much I have been blamed, nay stigmatized as
deficient in humanity, for sending certain English prisoners
to an ally of ours upon the coast of Coromandel. Now, sir,
I should be glad to have your unbiassed sentiments upon
the whole of this case. It stands thus :

" I left Europe with a strong and powerful squadron
under my exclusive and sole orders, the objects of this
expedition I was going upon being twofold, first, to prevent
the British from getting possession of the Cape of Good
Hope, and in the event of succeeding in that then to proceed
with all dispatch to the coast of Coromandel, there to land
a body of men to aid the exertions of our zealous Asiatic
ally, Hyder Ali. Having been hurried away from France
without near sufficient water for my people, it became
necessary to stop for a supply, for which purpose I intended
to put into one of the Canary or Cape de Verd Islands.
Unfortunately for me I decided upon Port Praya Bay as
being the best at which to obtain a speedy supply of that
article. Upon running for the harbour I was astonished
and vexed to perceive a British fleet riding at anchor ;
vexed because I felt the probability that thus unexpectedly
falling in with the enemy might seriously interfere with, if
not totally derange, all my plans. My surprize was not a
little increased when I saw a British commodore's distin-
guishing flag flying at the masthead of the innermost ship,
with a number of pennants around him, a forest of masts of
merchantmen laying unprotected and exposed towards the
mouth of the harbour.

" Such a spectacle (as novel as unaccountable) struck me
forcibly. I at once knew it must be the squadron of Com-
modore Johnston who I was going out to counteract the
measures of, but how to account for a seaman's taking such

THE ADMIRAL EXPLAINS A FAILURE 57

a berth as Mr. Johnston had, leaving his convoy liable to
be partially cut off or destroyed, in any other manner than
from a wish to take the utmost care of himself, I knew not.
I therefore resolved, notwithstanding a great superiority of
the British ships, immediately to bring them to action. I
for that purpose made the Hannibal's signal to lead in, run
close alongside the commodore and engage. This order the
Count Be Bruyere executed in a style that covered him
with glory. I seconded him by attacking two of the enemy's
line of battle ships.

" Had all my captains done their duty with the same
ardour the Hannibal and Heros did it would have proved a
woeful day for England. Suffice it to say very different was
the case. Three of the commanders for ever disgraced them-
selves, involving therein the noble families to which they
were allied. These poltroons hung back and never brought
their ships within gun shot of the enemy. The consequence
was after a conflict unparalleled in history, in which the
Hannibal and the Heros sustained a galling fire from the
whole of the British line for two hours, both were so crippled,
especially the Hannibal, which was reduced to an ungovern-
able hulk, having lost all her masts, that I was under the
afflicting necessity of ordering my ships off, not, however,
until we had treated the English commodore and his
squadron so roughly that he permitted me, damaged as I
was, to tow the shattered Hannibal from the midst of
them.

" Having got clear out of the harbour I resolved to proceed
without loss of time to the Cape, to which place I was aware
the British squadron were bound. Willing for form's sake
to have the sanction of those who served under me, I forth-
with summoned all commanders to attend a council of war
on board the Heros, when, communicating my future inten-
tions, the Counts De Bruyere and Adhemar alone agreed to
the propriety of such intentions, the rest pronouncing my
object impracticable and unjustifiably wild and chimerical.
Two of the dastardly captains in particular said they could
not proceed, not having water for more than twenty days,

58 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

besides which the state of the Hannibal made it impossible
to go on unless I proposed sacrificing that ship altogether.
I replied that I had no such intention, so far from it I
looked with confidence to the future services and assistance
of the Hannibal, her gallant captain and crew to aid me in
effecting the important plans I had in view. I further
declared that the Hannibal must and should be new rigged
at sea, and as to water, those ships that had the smallest
quantity should receive a proportion from others that had
more, and an equal partition take place. If the entire
quantity in the fleet would not afford a quart per day for
each man they must content themselves with a pint, nay,
with half a pint, for to the Cape I certainly would go with the
utmost dispatch.

" Those who had proved themselves poltroons in the
battle were the most violent opponents of my wishes, but
I regarded them not. The Illustre took the Hannibal in
tow ; every carpenter of the fleet was employed making
lower masts, and such was their zeal and industry, as well
as that of every seaman, that in eight days, although in
boisterous weather, upon a turbulent ocean, she was as
completely new masted and rigged as if in Brest or any
other harbour. I thus accomplished my purpose, reached
the Cape in safety, and thereby defeated the object of
Mr. Johnston and his large force, compelling him to be
content with capturing or destroying a few empty vessels
he found at anchor in Saldanha Bay.

" I then proceeded to India, where I had the mortification
to find that Pondicherry, our chief settlement upon the
coast of Coromandel, was in the hands of the enemy ; Trin-
comalay, where we are now conversing, the same, so that
I had no port into which I could put for repairs, for pro-
visions, or upon any account whatever nearer than Mauritias.
Sir Edward Hughes, with his fleet of nine line of battle ships,
all in the completest state and fully manned, lay off Madras ;
I had eleven, several of them exceedingly leaky and in want
of stores, and so weak from the sad number of hands we
lost at Port Praya I could scarcely manoeuvre my ships. I

TOO MANY PRISONERS 59

nevertheless determined to steer for and engage Sir Edward.
I did so, and although no vessel was taken on either side I
reduced the British squadron to such distress as to be in-
capable of committing further hostilities for some time.
Had not three of my captains betrayed their base cowardice
I should have obtained a decisive victory. I treated those
villains, those traitors to their sovereign and their country,
as they deserved by dispatching them with ignominy and
disgrace to France !

" After running over to Sumatra for a few days, refitting,
and watering there, I again went to sea, scouring the Bay
of Bengal and Indian Seas in every direction, and taking so
many prizes that my fleet for many weeks actually sub-
sisted upon the provisions obtained from them. A number
of prisoners consequently were on board my ships, who
from the peculiarity of my situation became a serious evil,
as I was at a loss how to feed them. As I knew the English
had a number of French prisoners, I addressed a letter to
Sir Edward Hughes proposing an immediate exchange.
An answer was given in the politest and most benevolent
terms, highly respectful and pleasing to myself as an indi-
vidual. Sir Edward, however, avowed his inability to accede
to my well -intended proposal, much as he wished for
humanity's sake that it should be carried into effect, but
that the exchange of prisoners rested exclusively with Lord
Macartney, the Governor of Madras, to whom he therefore
begged leave to refer me.

" Upon receipt of this information I, without an hour's
delay, addressed Lord Macartney upon the subject. This
arrogant lord deigned not to give any sort of answer. My
prisoners increasing by further captures, I again wrote to
his lordship, and again was insulted by his insolent and
rude silence. Distressed beyond measure, I addressed the
British admiral, from whom I directly received an answer
that did honour to his feelings as a man, but still lamenting
his want of power to promote my humane object. By this
time the evil was become so great that I once more in the
most forcible language depicted to Sir Edward Hughes the

60 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

forlorn state I was reduced to, and that if a cartel was not
forthwith established I should be under the disagreeable
necessity of delivering up the prisoners to Tippoo Sultaun,
the only Asiatic prince in alliance with my country. Having
been twice treated with contumely by Lord Macartney I
particularly desired no further reference might be made to
him whom I considered deficient in common good manners,
and who had behaved towards me with a rudeness and im-
pertinence unprecedented between gentlemen. The British
admiral for the third time lamented his want of power to
treat for an exchange in most pathetic terms, entreating
that I would not adopt the measure I threatened of sending
my prisoners to Tippoo, as he feared such a step would be
worse than condemning the unfortunate men to death. To
this I replied that I had no alternative, that I was sincerely
desirous to avoid doing what he so feelingly deprecated, and
would therefore (seriously inconvenient and distressing as
it was) wait three days more for a definitive and, I trusted,
favourable answer ere I dispatched the poor people, whose
fate I deplored as much as he could, and if ultimately driven
to the necessity of delivering them over to Tippoo Sultaun
would use every precaution in my power to avert the
melancholy event he seemed to apprehend by securing for
them humane and liberal treatment.

" I was given to understand that the Admiral submitted
my various representations to Lord Macartney without any
effect, and thus I was compelled to send several hundred
English seamen and soldiers to Tippoo Sultaun, but previous
to so doing I exacted from that prince's agent the most
sacred and positive assurances that they should be humanely
treated and exchanged at the earliest opportunity.

" For this, on my part, unavoidable measure I have been
stigmatized, abused in the grossest terms, as void of
humanity or feeling, as a savage wretch that ought to be
scouted from all society. My character thus attempted to
be blasted with every opprobrious epithet attached to my
name, and yet with how little justice was all this done, for
let me ask you, Mr. Hickey, as a candid, unprejudiced

BROKEN FAITH 61

person, what could I do ? I have already told you how
peculiarly I was situated ; without a single port to receive
and assist me on either side of India ; without any other
native friendly prince than Tippoo Sultaun ; in actual
distress for want of provisions, fresh or salt ; with between
four and five hundred prisoners distributed through my
fleet, and increasing my difficulties by what they necessarily
consumed. I exerted my strenuous endeavours without
intermission to effect an exchange, and on my part would
have done it upon any terms, however unfavourable to the
nation I had the honour to represent, but all these en-
deavours failed ; I could no longer keep the prisoners on
board my ships ; I could not send them to the Mauritias,
having neither transports nor vessels fit to convey them,
and indeed if I had I was conscious it would only have been
throwing the weight off my own shoulders to place it upon
the Governor and inhabitants of Mauritias, for both at that
island and Bourbon the most dreadful scarcity prevailed, the
people were almost starved. It would have been unreason-
able in the extreme to suppose that I was to set at liberty
near five hundred, the greater part able seamen ; common
justice to my sovereign forbid such a measure. What then
remained for me but to do as I did, previously taking every
precaution that prudence and foresight could suggest to
secure to the said prisoners humane and proper treatment.
If Tippoo Sultaun, or those serving under him, broke their
faith in this particular, why am I to be so blamed ; why is
the whole odium to be thrown upon me ? I cannot, I de-
clare on my honour, I cannot see the least show of justice
in such conduct."

In this manner did Mr. Suffren express himself to me,
nor could I do otherwise than give him credit for the force of
his argument, and although the barbarity with which the
unfortunate people were treated, many of whom were
actually murdered, must ever be lamented, I am free to say
I cannot see the justice of attempting to fix the odium en-
tirely and exclusively upon Admiral Suffren. Upon this
subject he always spoke with great warmth, and I could

62 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

plainly perceive it preyed upon his mind, yet he invariably
insisted the English did not treat him with their natural
liberality upon the occasion.

He had but just concluded the above narrative when
dinner was announced, whereupon he retired to his state-
room, from whence he in five minutes returned dressed in
a blue jacket of thin coast cloth, his shirt collar buttoned,
with a black stock on. He had also pulled up his stockings,
buttoned his breeches knees, and put on shoes instead of
slippers. He then conducted me down his private staircase
into the cabin below, where about forty gentlemen were
assembled, among whom were the Counts Be Bruyere and
Adhemar. Mr. Suffren seated me on his right hand, a place
I made an attempt to give up to the Count De Bruyere,
who positively refused, and Mr. Suffren said, " Come, come !
I must have you next me upon one side or the other."

The table was tolerably supplied, and we had as fine bread
as ever I saw on shore, the wines light but well flavoured,
a very coarse tablecloth, not over clean, the knives, forks
and etceteras rough in the extreme. The Admiral eat
voraciously, more than once remarking to me that the heat
of the climate did not take away his appetite, " though,"
added he, "I have often with a very keen one been reduced
to a musty biscuit, full of vermin, with a small bit of stinking
salt pork, as my only sustenance during the twenty-four
hours. However, sir, I make it a rule always to conform to
the circumstances of the day be they as they may, good or
bad ; a military man is ever liable to hard rubs and ought
to be prepared to meet them with fortitude and resignation."

Just after we sat down to dinner the arrival of the little
Hannibal was announced. This was an English fifty gun
ship taken by Mr. Sufiren on his way to India. On board
this ship at the time of her being captured was my London
friend, Major George Russell, who left England with Robert
Pott and Emily, but whilst laying at St. Helena the Hannibal
touched there, and Major Russell being intimate with her
commander he offered to take him on to Madras, by which
he would in all probability save at least a month. The Major

DINNER WITH THE ADMIRAL 63

therefore removed to the Hannibal, which off the Cape
unluckily fell in with Suffren's squadron in the night and
was taken. Being a good sailer, Mr. Suffren in a few days
dispatched her as an avant courier to announce his approach
at Mauritias. While upon the voyage she fell in with a
Danish Indiaman bound to Tranquebar, and Major Russell
obtaining the French captain's leave, after giving his parole
not to serve until exchanged, went on board the Dane,
otherwise we should have met at Trincomalay.

With the little Hannibal there also came in the Coventry
English frigate, of thirty-two guns, which had been captured
some time before by a French seventy-four. Captain
Wolseley, who commanded her at the time, had been sent to
Mauritias, but left that island in the little Hannibal. He
immediately came on board the Heros and was very politely
received by Mr. Suffren.

After dinner coffee was served, and then the Chasse Caf6,
or liqueurs, when the party broke up. As I was passing
through the steerage, along the main deck, I beheld such a
scene of filth and dirt as I could not have believed had I
not seen ; it had more the appearance of an abominable
pig-sty than the inside of a ship of the line bearing an
admiral's flag, and this was very much the case with all
the fleet except two, the Vengeur and Flamand, both of
which were as neat and clean as any British ship of war.

After stopping a few minutes to speak to one of the
officers I went up to the quarter-deck where the Admiral
was. He told me he was going on shore to take his evening's
walk, which he never failed doing when in port. I was
rather surprised at not seeing any preparation making, and
still more at an uncouth figure, covered with pitch and tar,
coming up to him and without the least ceremony saying,
" The boat is ready." This person I found was the boat-
swain. The Admiral then wished me a good evening; saying,
" I should have offered you a passage on shore in my boat,
small as it is, but that I see Chevillard's smart pinnace
coming for you." Although very corpulent and heavy, he
went down the ship's side by a single common rope as quick

64 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

and light as any midshipman could have done, without a
man at the side, and seating himself in the stern sheets of
the jolly-boat took the helm, pushed off, and four young
lads rowed him ashore. I could not help expressing my
astonishment at the scene, whereupon I was informed the
General never left the ship in any other manner, unless upon
occasions of state or ceremony, when he reluctantly yielded
to custom. The boatswain was his factotum, nor did he
ever apply to any other person for anything he wanted
himself.

With all his exterior roughness, the General possessed the
insinuating and elegant address of a French man of fashion,
and as a proof of attention to the fair sex he had, without
saying a word to me, ordered into his jolly-boat some papers
of chocolate, liqueurs, China sweetmeats and Acheen fruits,
especially the delicious mangosteen, of which, though
extremely difficult to keep beyond a few days, he had
contrived to preserve some dozens in high preservation.
These little articles of real luxury in our situation he in
person presented to Mrs. Hickey, paying her many hand-
some compliments at the same time. He had but just left
Mr. Chevillard's house when I reached it.

In the evening a small country boat came in from Anjingo,
bringing an account of Lord Rodney's victory over the
French fleet in the West Indies on the preceding 12th of
April, when the French commander-in-chief, the Count
De Grasse, was taken. This was instantly and loudly
pronounced to be a gross falsehood, a mere fabricated story,
it being utterly impossible that a French admiral should
ever strike his flag to an enemy. It was preposterous, it
was absurd to send forth so ridiculous a lie ! Yet it proved
very true.

CHAPTER V

RELEASED

ON the 22nd Captain Wolseley called upon us, and as he
had heard of our disastrous voyage from Europe, and the
serious losses we sustained from the hurricane, he brought
with him two pieces of very fine coast longcloth, a quantity
of muslins and other articles for Mrs. Hickey, besides some
pieces of gingham and nankeen for my use.

The same morning every captain in the fleet visited us,
when we gained another most estimable friend in the
Chevalier De Sal vert, then captain of the Flamand, who
from that day until the hour that we parted (to meet, alas !
no more) treated Mrs. Hickey and myself with an affectionate
kindness and an attention that I never can forget. We
usually dined twice a week on board the Flamand. Had
we complied with Monsieur De Sal vert's urgent request we
should never have been out of her. He made pleasant
parties for us up the various creeks, had excellent music,
and, whenever the weather permitted, dancing. This,
however, was not often the case, as notwithstanding it was
called the coolest season of the year the heat was in general
so intense and oppressive there was no moving in the day-
time. On board this ship there was one of the most extra-
ordinary birds I ever saw. It was a minor, from the Island
of Sumatra, which sung a number of French and Malay
songs, repeated verses, and was an inimitable mimic. It
likewise went regularly through the whole manoeuvres of
putting the ship about, making such a noise at " Main-sail
haul " as would have led one to suppose twenty persons
were " singing out." Mrs. Hickey was so delighted with
this bird we could not get her from its cage.
IIL— F 65

66 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

The following morning just after rising, and whilst dress-
ing, I heard someone singing " Connoissez vous Admiral
Anson, ce General de grand renom," etc., a satire, or bur-
lesque, upon Lord Anson 's famous voyage round the world,
abounding with wit. Going out of my bed-chamber, I was
surprised to find the performer was no other than the minor,
which Captain Be Salvert had sent with a most kind letter
as a present to my dearest Charlotte. I need scarcely add
that this charming bird became an amazing pet.

I was one day conversing with the Chevalier De Salvert
respecting the rare abilities of Admiral Suffren. He spoke
of him with enthusiasm in his profession as a consummate
hero who reflected the highest honour upon the country he
belonged to. He added, however, that notwithstanding all
his merit he would fall a sacrifice to the powerful influence
of several noble families whose characters he had indirectly
sullied by degrading three of his captains (to whom they were
nearly related), turning them out of the ships they had com-
manded, and sending them home to France stigmatized as
cowards. He therefore apprehended that the services the
Admiral had done his country would be lost in the improper
weight of those noblemen, and that instead of being rewarded
he would be disgraced. He further told me that one of the
three poltroons, who had behaved in the most dastardly
manner so that his own officers and crew cried out shame,
was nearly connected with one of the dearest friends Mr.
Suffren had in the world, which induced him to wish to let
the culprit off easy. With this object in view he sent for
the captain, lamented to hear that his health was become
so impaired by the climate as to render a change of air
necessary, that as such was the case he should give him the
command of a small vessel he was about to send to France
with dispatches, and that he must sail in three days. The
stupid blockhead, not understanding the meaning of such
unexpected lenity, thought he might presume upon it, and
immediately answered that although he had lately been
somewhat indisposed yet his complaint was not of so serious
a nature as to make it necessary for him to relinquish the

SLANDERS 67

command of his ship, and that he felt himself quite com-
petent to do the duties of it. The Admiral, astonished at
his effrontery, coolly replied, " You are grossly mistaken,
you are every way unfit to retain the command you have
held, and have a more fatal complaint than you seem
disposed to admit, though you must be conscious of it.
You are a rank and infamous coward, so away, sir, join
your dastardly colleagues and meet the fate that awaits
you in France." The three commanders were sent off
together.

I was happy to hear about two years afterwards that the
Chevalier De Sal vert's fears were not realized. The merits
of Admiral Suffren were too conspicuous and too well known
to be borne down by any weight of influence or power.
Upon his return to France he was received at Court, and
everywhere else, with the highest respect and unbounded
expressions of gratitude, his sovereign directly creating him
a marechal of France.

The universal attention and respect with which I and
my dear Charlotte were treated raised the envy and spleen
of Mr. Bateman to so great a degree that he began to
slander us both, circulating some anecdotes as having
occurred at Lisbon which he imagined would lower us in the
opinions of the French gentlemen. This ill-temper was
further increased at finding a quite contrary effect to what
he intended ; his illiberality and the motive was seen
through and only added to his own disgrace. His behaviour,
however, being communicated to me, I gave him my opinion
upon such base conduct in very pointed terms.

At noon Mr. Barretto called and we embarked together
for the Her os. Upon getting on board we were immediately
conducted into the Admiral's apartment. Mr. Barretto,
after producing the only two documents saved from the
general havoc made by the storm, related every particular
relative to his ship that had occurred from the time of his
arrival at Lisbon until his departure from thence and putting
into Trincomalay in the utmost distress. He concluded his
narrative with an earnest desire that Mr. Suffren would

68 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

issue an order for the ship's release that he ( Barrett o) might
get her refitted for sea and conclude a voyage that had
already proved so unfortunate.

Mr. Suffren heard him with the most patient attention,
nor once interrupted him, but when his story was finished
he thus addressed him :

" Mr. Barretto, I have duly weighed and considered every
circumstance you have mentioned with the strongest in-
clination to put a favourable construction upon your ease
and comply with your desire, were it possible, but the facts
are so clear, the proofs so strong and damning that I cannot
do otherwise than retain the ship, and, as far as I am
empowered, condemn her as a legal prize, subject, of course,
to the further and future consideration of the High Court
of Admiralty at Paris."

Mr. Barretto, upon hearing this unexpected determination
as to his property, said :

" May I, sir, request to know what are those facts and
proofs, as you are pleased to call them, and which you
consider so clear and damning ? "

" Most freely," replied Mr. Suffren, " and I will unequi-
vocally state them. Your ship is of British construction,
built in a British port, and sold, as alleged, to a subject of a
neutral power, but after the declaration of war between
France and Great Britain, fitted out at Bombay, from
whence she sailed for Lisbon, where you put on board a
cargo, not of Portuguese merchandize but consisting en-
tirely of staple articles of England, such as lead, iron, copper,
canvas and other marine stores ; yourself born and bred
under the British flag at Bombay and so conscious of your
being a subject of that nation that though calling yourself
a Portuguese, you deemed it requisite to obtain a naturali-
zation at Lisbon. With your English cargo you depart
from Lisbon for Madras, another English settlement."

Mr. Barretto here interrupted the Admiral, saying :

* You are mistaken, sir, in some of your assumed facts.
There are no other marine or naval stores on board ; the
cargo as specified by you undoubtedly was manufactured

THE RAYNHA DE PORTUGAL A PRIZE 69

in England, but I purchased the whole in the city of Lisbon
from Portuguese merchants and out of their warehouses, as
I surely had a right to do. Equally incorrect are you in
asserting that I was bound to an English settlement. I was
not, sir. Goa was the place of my destination, as my papers
should distinctly have shewn but for an act of providence,
and their destruction deprives me of my written evidence."

Mr. Barretto here ceasing to speak, the Admiral resumed :

''This act of divine providence I sincerely lament, Mr.
Barretto, and have no doubt that misfortune alone deprived
you of the usual papers, but there is yet more ; you have
English passengers on board, and, with one exception, no
other. I must repeat, too, you were bound to Madras,
otherwise (unless going to Bengal) what business could you
have off Hog Island upon the coast of Sumatra, that of
Malabar being, as you pretend, your destination ? "

Mr. Barretto again interrupted Mr. Suffren to declare
upon his honour that, however strange it might appear,
such was the truth, and he could only lament the superlative
ignorance of his navigator.

Mr. Suffren replied, with more warmth of manner than
he had yet shewn : " Fye, sir, fye, I blush to hear you !
Can you for a moment suppose it possible that there is a
person to be found who knows anything of seamanship that
can or will believe so wild a circumstance could occur as
that of a ship under the management and direction of
Europeans, bound to Goa, upon the coast of Malabar, making
the land off Sumatra ? Indeed, indeed, Mr. Barretto, it is
too absurd, the deception is too palpable."

Mr. Barretto renewed his protestations that such was
the fact, however incredible, but Mr. Suffren continued :

" Were further proofs required I have them within my
power, Mr. Barretto, from the unbiassed mouth of one of
your own officers, who has voluntarily assured me that
both ship and cargo are exclusively and entirely English
property."

This the Admiral had learnt from the cowardly scoundrel
of a second mate, who, in consequence of Mr. Barrett o's

70 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

upbraiding him for abandoning his post and his duty in
the hour of danger, declaring he would publish his base
conduct in Portugal, had adopted that mode of revenge.

Mr. Suffren ended by expressing his deep concern that so
heavy a loss was likely to fall upon him (Barretto) indi-
vidually, and was proceeding in a strain of commiseration
when Mr. Barretto very abruptly stopped him, saying :

" Don't, Mr. Suffren, give yourself the trouble of bestow-
ing your pity upon me, as useless as it is void of all sincerity,
nor need you take so roundabout a way to disguise the
truth or in a fruitless attempt to gloss over your tyrannical
and unjust treatment of me. I can, without hesitation,
account for the motive that influences you to commit what
I can consider in no other light than a direct and absolute
robbery, and a positive breach and infringement of the
law of nations. Thus, sir, stands the fact. You see my ship,
torn to pieces as she is, still a noble vessel, capable of being
easily converted into a powerful vessel of war ; you know
that she has an immensely valuable cargo on board, which
you are desirous of laying hands upon, right or wrong. In
short, you want both ship and cargo, and having no means
of purchasing or paying for either the one or the other, avail
yourself of the strong arm of power cruelly and unjustly to
deprive me of my property."

This speech, delivered with the utmost gravity and com-
posure, I conceived would have highly irritated and offended
the gallant Admiral, instead of which he betrayed not the
slightest symptom of anger, but with a smile upon his
countenance mildly replied :

" From my soul I wish, Mr. Barretto, I wish that you
may be able to establish what you say, because in that case
you would obtain ample restitution from my Court."

Here the conference broke up ; we got into our boat to
return on shore, and while on our way had the mortification
to see the Portuguese flag, which had till then been flying,
hauled down and a French one hoisted in its stead.

The following morning Mr. Barretto called to request
that I would draw up a statement of all the facts within my

THE CONDEMNATION UPHELD 71

knowledge relative to his late unfortunate ship, and verify
the same by affidavit. This I accordingly did, particularly
setting forth the manner in which as an utter stranger I
had applied for and obtained a passage for myself and family
on board the Raynha de Portugal. To conclude this part of
the history at once : Mr. Barretto having got his liberty,
repaired first to Bombay and afterwards to Bengal to pro-
cure certain vouchers he was advised to furnish himself
with, which having got he embarked for Lisbon, where he
applied for and obtained duplicates of his late ship's papers,
together with a written instrument under the hand and
seal of the Marquis De Pombal, certifying in the most
decided language and terms that the ship Raynha de Portugal
was bona fide Portuguese, and that the cargo on board of
her had been purchased from Portuguese merchants at
Lisbon. Armed with these important documents in support
of his claims, Mr. Barretto proceeded from Lisbon to Paris,
where upon his arrival he commenced a suit in the Admiralty
Court against Mr. Suffren and the other captors of his ship
and cargo. After a long investigation of the case the Court
decided against Mr. Barretto, condemning both his ship
and cargo.

Thus grievously disappointed by this strange decision at
Paris, Mr. Barrett o's next step was an application to certain
underwriters in London to pay policies executed by them to
an amount of eighty thousand pounds. This demand they
refused to comply with, alleging that the property was not
such as was stated in the proposals for the insurance. Mr.
Barretto therefore repaired in person to the British capital,
where he caused an action to be commenced upon the policy.
This came on to be tried at Guildhall before Lord Lough-
borough, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who, upon the
plaintiff's counsel stating the case, asked whether there had
been any formal adjudication respecting the ship and cargo
in the Admiralty Court in France, to which he was answered
by the counsel for the underwriters that there had been a
formal and regular decision against the present plaintiff, an
authenticated copy of which judgment he then held in his

72 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HIOKBY

hand and was prepared to prove. This being accordingly
done, Lord Loughborough observed there was an end of
the case, the judgment of the court of Paris being decisive ;
that much as the plaintiff was likely to suffer individually,
and greatly as he felt for him, it was unavoidable and out
of his power to relieve him, but the decision of a foreign
court could not be overset or the merits of the case again
be opened. Thus was Mr. Barrett o foiled in every way and
left to sustain the immense loss of two hundred and fifty
thousand pounds, which was the value of the ship and cargo.

Whether or not he was the sole owner I cannot decide,
but if he was he lived long enough to get over that enormous
loss and to acquire another large fortune, as he died several
years afterwards possessed of considerable wealth. I
always thought, and do still think, there must have been
some palpable neglect or mismanagement on the part of
those employed professionally for Mr. Barretto at Paris,
for had all the circumstances of the case been clearly before
the judges it is impossible such a decision could have been
given.

The unfortunate Frenchman of whom I have already
spoken who received the injury upon his shin in helping to
throw the guns overboard during the hurricane continued
his own remedy or mode of treating the wound for some
time after we got into Trincomalay, daily applying brandy,
vinegar and brown paper. At the time of Mr. Suffren's
arrival the sore had put on a very serious appearance, and
the flesh around it became greatly inflamed, attended with
much pain. As I saw the injured man almost daily, and
found it likely serious consequences might arise from further
neglect, I strongly urged him to apply to Mr. Be Boissieres,
the surgeon-major, which he most obstinately refused to do.

Towards the end of the month of January Mr. Brown,
my shipmate, told me he had just seen the Frenchman's
leg and had no doubt a mortification would soon take place.
I thereupon immediately went to Mr. De Boissieres' quarters
and mentioned the circumstance to him, who instantly went
to the Frenchman's room. He very unwillingly showed the

LOVE-LETTERS TO CHARLOTTE 73

wound, and upon examining it Mr. De Boissieres at once
pronounced it to be a fatal case ; that nothing could preserve
the man's life but amputation of the limb, and that without
further loss of time, there being certain symptoms of gan-
grene. He, however, dressed the sore, saying he would call
again with other surgeons. He accordingly did so in the
evening with two of the medical gentlemen, who upon taking
off the bandage declared a mortification had already com-
menced, and they prepared their instruments to perform
amputation. The poor man, upon being told this, at once,
and in the most decided manner, refused to submit to the
operation. Being informed death must ensue, he with the
utmost composure said, "Be it so. Since I was fifteen
years of age I have been a soldier of fortune, a wanderer
over every quarter of the globe, enduring every degree of
hardship and bodily suffering that ever man encountered.
Such must still be my fate ; what then should I do deprived
of a limb ? Far better for me to leave the world than live
so mutilated and rendered incapable of following my pro-
fession." This absurd reasoning Mr. Be Boissieres met and
answered with great good sense and judgment, but all in
vain ; the self-devoted victim resolutely adhered to his
determination. The surgeons, with the most assiduous
attention, continued to exert their skill to save life and limb,
but without success. In two days the wretched man
expired.

I have already mentioned the high estimation Mrs. Hie key
was held in by the gentlemen of both army and navy,
especially by the latter, she and I greatly preferring them
to the military as assimilating more with our dispositions
and possessing a degree of plain, straightforward integrity
more congenial to us than the perpetual ribaldry and offen-
sive gasconade so prevalent in the French military officers.
It may easily be imagined that amongst so numerous a body
we found several disagreeable coxcombs. Some of these
soon began to address anonymous love-letters to my Char-
lotte, which I would have let pass with the silent contempt
they deserved had I not perceived they annoyed her so much

74 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

as to affect her health, and she daily urged me to prevail
upon the Admiral to let us depart. I therefore addressed
the following letter to Mr. Suffren :

" SIB,

Although I am exceedingly unwilling to trespass upon
your time, which I am aware must be fully occupied in matters
of importance, yet the happiness of a most deserving wife leads
me, sir, to entreat your attention for a moment. Our situation
here, from various causes, has become extremely irksome and
unpleasant, added to which the precarious state of Mrs. Hickey's
health makes us both anxious to reach our destination. Upon
her account solely I went to Lisbon to procure a passage from
thence to India in a Portuguese ship. After waiting in that
capital five tedious months we unfortunately embarked on
board the Rayriha De Portugal. A wretched and most disastrous
voyage terminated by putting into this place, where we have
now been upwards of three months. Mr. Chevillard, our host,
has uniformly treated us with a degree of politeness and hos-
pitality I fear rarely equalled, certainly impossible to be sur-
passed. The nature of the post he fills has, since the arrival
of your fleet, kept him employed abroad almost the entire day,
and to a gentleman of your experience and knowledge of the
world it is scarcely necessary to observe that during the absence
of the Master a house is by no means the same or so well regu-
lated as when he is present. Mrs. Hickey flattered herself, sir,
that upon your Excellency's arrival we should almost immediately
have been sent to the coast of Coromandel. Every day drags
heavily on, and the continued detention preys upon her spirits,
her health being affected by the uncertainty as to when any
opportunity may occur for our departure. Will you then, sir,
with your usual humane attention, and for her gratification,
inform me when you imagine it likely that an opportunity will
present itself for our getting away, as it will be some alleviation
to her misery to have a period ascertained for the termination
of our distresses. Once more entreating your pardon for the
liberty I have taken,

I have the honour to remain,

Your Excellency's most obedient and most humble
servant,

W. HICKEY.''

HOPES OF RELEASE 75

To this letter I received a very handsome and condescend-
ing answer from Mr. De Launay, the Admiral's secretary,
written by the Admiral's special direction, in which he
assured me the earliest opportunity that offered should be
embraced, the Admiral very sensibly feeling for the dis-
agreeable situation Mrs. Hie key must necessarily be in, and
which he was earnestly desirous to put an end to by enabling
us to proceed to a British settlement.

Every evening when at home Messieurs Gautier, Cuver-
ville, De Sal vert, L'Anglade and our worthy host, Chevillard,
afforded us a great fund of entertainment by their excellent
singing. Captain Gautier, who had considerable musical
talents, wrote a song, which he also set to music, in compli-
ment to Mrs. Hie key.

On the 23rd of February the St. Michael, a sixty-four,
returned from a cruise in the China seas. On the same day
the Consolante sailed again for Point de Galle and Columbo.

The 1st of March a small vessel came in from Mauritias
announcing that General De Bussy was at that settlement
and was to leave it for India the day after she left. The
2nd I dined with Admiral Suffren on board the Heros. He
was, as I had always found him, extremely affable and
attentive, assuring me I should have a passage in the first
ship of any kind that sailed for the coast.

The 3rd Mrs. Hickey and I went early in the morning with
Captains Cuverville and De Salvert upon a water party for
a couple of days, returning on the 6th from a very pleasant
excursion, when I had the mortification to find that the
Chaser, a small ship of sixteen guns, had suddenly been
dispatched by the Admiral for Tranquebar, and that a letter
had been addressed to me by her Captain Joyeuze telling me
that Mr. Suffren had just ordered him out of his own ship,
the Bellona, a forty-gun frigate, to go upon a secret service
in the little Chaser, and had further directed him to accom-
modate Mrs. Hickey and me with a passage to Tranquebar,
but that we must be on board within an hour from that time,
when he would with the utmost pleasure resign the cabin
for our use and endeavour to render the short voyage as

76 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

comfortable as possible in every respect. The opportunity
thus lost was a grievous disappointment to us at the time,
though perhaps it was lucky that we missed it, for the
Chaser fell in with an English frigate that captured her
after killing two-thirds of her crew.

On the 8th the Cleopatra of forty-four guns came in,
having left General De Bussy the preceding day. The
morning of the 9th a fleet appeared in the offing, and at
one in the afternoon the Pendant, of seventy-four guns,
bearing General De Bussy's flag at the main top-gallant
masthead ; the Hardi, also a seventy-four ; and the Argo-
naut, of sixty-four, with thirty -eight transports, having the
German regiment of the Prince Le Marque and other Euro-
peans to the amount of two thousand five hundred on board
and three hundred Caffrees came to an anchor in the
harbour. I directly went off to the Heros for the purpose of
requesting the Admiral (who had desired I never would
scruple applying to him in person when I saw occasion) to
bear me and my misfortunes in recollection and to mention
the situation I was in to General Be Bussy. I found Mr.
SufEren oppressed by heat, sweltering under a heavy laced
uniform suit of clothes which, however, in no way affected
his temper or his customary manner. He in his usual polite
terms assured me he should take the earliest occasion of
mentioning my peculiarly hard case to the Count De Bussy,
upon whom the chief command of both navy and army
devolved. He then good humouredly began to talk of him-
self, facetiously observing that he felt like a hog in armour,
for so long a period had elapsed since he had been obliged
to dress otherways than in the lightest and thinnest clothing
that he was really uncomfortable, but etiquette required his
waiting upon the Commander -in-Chief properly equipped,
even at the expence of his feelings.

At five o'clock the same afternoon Mr. Chevillard received
a note from Mr. Launay wherein, after speaking of some
official business, he added that should Mr. Hie key be dis-
engaged the Admiral wished to see him. I therefore went
off directly, when he told me several ships would be

THE PRINCE LE MARQUE 77

dispatched to Cuddalore in a few days and I had better
apply to Monsieur Le Comte De Bussy for permission to
embark on one of them. I accordingly on the following
morning, being the 10th of the month, proceeded to the
Fendant, where after waiting about half an hour I was
introduced to the Comte, who upon being told the object
of my visit, expressed his concern that I should have had
the trouble of coming on board, especially as what I required
rested entirely with Mr. De Suffren, that general having the
entire and sole management of everything relative to the
marine.

From the Fendant I went to the Heros. I found the
Admiral reading some papers he had just received from
Monsieur De Bussy with which he appeared highly pleased.
He put one of them into my hand, desiring me to peruse it.
I found it to be a letter from Mr. De Bussy written in very
complimentary terms. After bestowing great panegyrics
upon Mr. Sunren's conduct in the command of the fleet he
entreated that he would continue to exercise his own
superior judgment in all matters respecting the ships
without any reference to him, as nothing should induce
him ever to interfere in any maritime points. The Admiral
then told me he thought the transports might be watered in
a couple of days, after which they with a part of his squadron
would sail for the coast, and sending for Mr. Launay he
directed him to take particular care that Mrs. Hie key and I
were accommodated in the best way circumstances would
admit of.

In the afternoon Captain Cuverville brought the Prince
Le Marque and two other officers of the Prince's regiment
to Mr. Chevillard's house, where Mrs. Hie key and myself
were introduced to them. The Prince was in every respect
a perfect man of fashion and remarkably well-looking. He
expressed himself very feelingly upon the extraordinary
hardships Mrs. Hie key had undergone, declaring too that
a strong dislike would operate in future against every
Frenchman bearing the name of Des Roys for the worse
than want of gallantry that person had betrayed, by his

78 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

tyranny and absolute inhumanity in detaining her a close
prisoner on board the Indiaman after being made acquainted
with the distresses she had undergone during the voyage.

The 1 1th I dined by invitation on board the Heros, where
the Admiral gave an entertainment to Mr. De Bussy and
his suite. Upon my entering the cabin he very civilly
enquired after Mrs. Hie key's health, congratulating us both
upon the prospect there was of our being at last released
from all our difficulties. He observed that a circumstance
had occurred that morning which made it impossible for
him to tell me the precise day the detachment would depart,
but as it would probably take place very suddenly it would
be prudent to hold ourselves in constant readiness. I assured
him we were, and should continue prepared to embark at
the moment we should be summoned.

The 12th I went round to the various gentlemen from
whom we had received the utmost kindness and attention
to express my own and Mrs. Hickey's grateful sense of
their goodness, for which we returned our heartfelt thanks,
and took our leave of most of them for ever. Mr. Suffren's
first lieutenant, a fine gruff old fellow, who had shewn un-
common attachment to and regard for us, was particularly
affected at our parting interview, observing that in all human
probability we never might meet again, " Unless," said he,
" the next conflict between the hostile fleets should ter-
minate unfavourably for France," of which he entertained
serious apprehensions from the disadvantage they laboured
under of their ships, except the four recently arrived from
Europe with General De Bussy, being all extremely foul,
besides being greatly out of repair, several so leaky it was
with difficulty they were kept afloat ; that, of course, they
were unfit to contend against an active enemy whose ships
were all in prime condition. He observed that the Vengeur
especially was in a sad state, that they had made an attempt
to heave her down at Trincomalay, but found her timbers
so decayed and her whole frame so loosened she would not
bear the strain, and they were obliged to relinquish it.

In the evening many of the captains, with the Prince

FAREWELLS TO FRENCH FRIENDS 79

Le Marque and his staff, assembled at Mr. Chevillard's,
where many unsuccessful efforts to be merry were made,
and without actually knowing why the party sunk into
silence and dejection. Mrs. Hie key and myself were sin-
cerely affected at the thoughts of parting with several
friends who had treated us with unexampled liberality, and
those of that description who were present seemed equally
to lament the thoughts of a separation from us.

We were at length relieved from this state of melancholy
by the entrance of Captain Duchillon of the Sphynx, a
lively, facetious man whose common boast used to be that
he knew not what sorrow was and that he never allowed
the caprices and changes of that fickle dame, Madam
Fortune, to lower his spirits or cause him one moment's
uneasiness. Observing the company were not so cheerful
as he expected, and guessing at the cause, he good
humouredly said, " I think it is highly probable we shall
speedily meet again with these our agreeable and de-
servedly esteemed English friends, as Madras you know,
comrades, must soon be in our possession, I trust previous
to their having quitted it, but should that not be the case
it cannot be long ere we renew the intimacy with them in
Bengal, where (addressing himself to me) your old friend,
Monsieur Suffren, with Monsieur De Bussy and a few
thousand followers meditate paying their respects." This
facetious gasconade created a general laugh, and though
said in joke I really from all I had heard and seen feared
there was too much foundation for it.

After supper, upon the party's separating, Captain
Duchillon saluted Mrs. Hie key and with unaffected warmth
wished her health and happiness, then shaking me cordially
by the hand he said, " Adieu, my respected although lately
acquired friend, and let me as you will in a few days see
Lord Macartney request you to tell him that his old acquaint-
ance Duchillon desired his best remembrances to him, and
that as he has always had the honour of conveying him
from his Government of Grenada in the West, so he hopes
very shortly to convey him to France from his Government

80 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

in the East." I promised the rattling captain that I would
take the earliest opportunity of delivering his civil message
to his lordship.

Just at the moment we were parting three guns were fired
from the Admiral's ship, and soon after four more, which I
was informed were signals for certain ships to unmoor, a
few minutes after which I received a letter from Mr. Launay
desiring me instantly to go on board the Blake, the com-
mander of which had instructions to receive me and Mrs.
Hie key. At eleven at night we accordingly left Mr. Chevil-
lard's house, that gentleman being so occupied in dispatching
the squadron that I had no opportunity of thanking him in
person for the extraordinary generosity and kindness with
whioh he had entertained us. I was therefore reduced to
the necessity of doing so by letter. Captain Wolseley in-
sisted upon attending us to the Blake, where he assisted in
arranging everything for us in our cabin. Our baggage did
not give us much trouble, as we had only a few changes of
linen, for which, as already observed, we were indebted to
our disinterested friends' generosity at Trincomalay. At
one in the morning Captain Wolseley took his leave and I
have never since had the happiness to see him, but I lately
had the satisfaction to hear he is still living and attained the
rank of an admiral. At parting he told me Mr. Bateman
had applied both to Mr. De Bussy and Mr. SufEren for a
passage in one of the men-of-war to the coast of Coromandel
and received a positive refusal.

CHAPTER VI

FROM TRINCOMALAY TO MADRAS

EARLY in the morning of the 13th of March, 1783, we
got under way, as did the Heros, bearing the Admiral's
flag, the Pendant with General De Bussy's, the St. Michael,
Artisien, Sphynx, Petite Hannibal, Cleopatra .Fortune, Bellona,
Coventry, Naiade, and fourteen transports containing the
whole of the European troops and stores. Having got out
of the harbour, whilst working down the bay, a transport
being upon a different tack ran foul of us with a dreadful
crash, carrying away our bolt -sprit and damaging the head.
Indeed, I thought from the shock we must both have gone
to the bottom. We remained entangled upwards of an hour,
when the transport's fore -mast went over the side, where-
upon we got clear, but the transport was so much injured
she was obliged to return to the harbour. When the accident
happened the Admiral sent the Naiade to our assistance,
and the boats of the fleet to remove the soldiers from the
transport to the different men-of-war. By the great exer-
tions of the frigate's seamen we had by evening got a new
bolt-sprit rigged and our damages repaired so as to be able
to proceed.

As Cuddalore was only a short distance from Ceylon, and
nearly in the same meridian, I was surprized to find the fleet
steering east -north -east. I afterwards learnt the reason of
this was an apprehension of falling in with the British under
Sir Edward Hughes, then supposed to be on their way from
Bombay to Madras. Had the English admiral been lucky
enough to have met the enemy the whole squadron, with
more than two thousand of the military, must inevitably
have been captured. After standing off the greater part

III.— G 8l

82 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

of the night they altered their course to north. Early in
the morning of the 15th the fleet came to an anchor in
Cuddalore roads, where the weather being moderate and
little surf, before three in the afternoon the whole of the
troops were landed.

Mr. Boissieres having given me a letter of introduction
to the French surgeon -major, I went on shore in search of
him, where I was told he resided about two miles from the
fort inland. I therefore walked out to his house through a
burning sun, and on the way passed the skirts of a camp of
Tippoo's, where a number of ferocious -looking fellows eyed
me in such a manner as to create considerable alarm in my
mind. I, however, reached my destination in safety, where
Mr. Panchemin received me very politely. After making
me drink a large glass of negus, which I stood in need of,
being greatly fatigued and exhausted, he procured a native
carriage drawn by a pair of bullocks in which he accompanied
me back to Cuddalore for the purpose of taking Mrs. Hickey
to his house. He insisted upon going on board the Blake
with me, which he did, conveyed Mrs. Hickey on shore, and
in the cool of the evening all three went out to his pleasant
mansion, where a plentiful repast of well-dressed curry and
pilau awaited us, to which we did ample justice. Our host
shewed us into a spacious bed-chamber, but without window-
frames, all the woodwork having been torn out by Tippoo's
people to light their fires and cook their victuals.

The following morning upon conversing with Mr. Pan-
chemin respecting the means of getting on to Madras, I had
the mortification to hear it was impracticable for a Euro-
pean, particularly a female, to travel by land, the entire
country being covered with Banditti, called Looties, who
lived by plunder, sparing neither age nor sex, friend or foe,
and who would certainly after robbing put us to death, as
they did to all those who were unlucky enough to meet them.
Equally difficult was it to proceed by sea, not one of the
French fleet intending to go further to the northward than
Cuddalore, from whence they were all to return to Trin-
comalay. Thus circumstanced I thought we should be under

AT CUDDALORE 83

the disagreeable necessity of going back to our former
station.

On the 16th I went to the fort of Cuddalore to pay my
compliments to General De Bussy, but he was so deeply
engaged in business I eould not see him. He, however, sent
an aide-de-camp to apologize for not admitting me and to
request I would dine with him. I accordingly went and was
not a little surprized to meet there my shipmate, Mr. Bate-
man, of whom I took not the least notice. Upon enquiry I
found that Colonel Des Roys had interested himself on
Mr. Bateman's behalf, and by a personal application to
Mr. Suffren had obtained permission for him to leave
Trincomalay upon any vessel in which he could get a passage,
and he had prevailed upon the commander of the Artisien
to receive him on board, an act of kindness that availed
nothing, for not being able to proceed to the coast he was
compelled to return with Mr. Suffren's squadron to Trin-
comalay.

During my stay at Cuddalore the gloomy accounts given
me at Trincomalay relative to the forlorn state of Fort
St. George was corroborated. The non-appearance of the
British fleet was considered as a convincing proof not only
of their incapacity to cope with the French fleet, but of their
being unable to keep the sea, otherwise they must have been
at their station off Madras two months before. In short,
from all I heard and all I saw I thought the influence and
power of my countrymen was completely at an end in
Asia.

The 1 8th the Coventry brought into the roads a large ship
under Prussian colours, which upon coming to an anchor
was observed to lay with a great heel. The Coventry had
detained her upon finding from her journal or log book that
she had been at Tranquebar, from which place she had taken
several English officers on board and was proceeding with
them to Madras. General De Bussy and Admiral Suffren
conferred together respecting this vessel, after which the
Admiral sent for me to tell me the Prussian was for Europe,
and in his opinion under very suspicious circumstances, so

84 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

much so that were he to be governed by his own opinion
and sentiments he certainly would have kept her at least
until he had an opportunity of further investigation into
her legality, but that General De Bussy, always disposed
to more lenient measures than he was, and wishing to act
with moderation, did not consider himself justified in de-
taining her, as eventually she might be pronounced neutral
property, and he could not deem her having a few English
passengers a cause for seizing her. Mr. Suffren then con-
tinued, " I am glad on your account, Mr. Hickey, that this
has happened as it will afford an opportunity for you to
get to one of your settlements. Go therefore immediately
on board and arrange matters for your departure, as I shall
release her directly."

The boat I had gone off in leaking dreadfully, the men
in her refused to take me to the Prussian, saying she lay so
far out where there was so much sea running they should
not be able to keep her afloat. I was consequently obliged
to return on shore in search of another, which having pro-
cured I put off and had nearly passed the surf when three
seamen hailed, entreating with great earnestness that I
would give them a cast to the Heros, being already beyond
their time of absence and no other boat to be got. I felt
myself under too many obligations to several of their coun-
trymen not to comply with their request. I therefore
instantly repassed the surf and took them in. They were
all stout, well-looking fellows, and expressed their thanks
in very complimentary terms. Whilst in the boat I asked
them some questions about the different sea fights between
their fleet and ours, and what they thought of their Admiral,
Monsieur Suffren, whereupon they all spoke together with
great volubility, giving such a panegyrical character of Mr.
Suffren as must have highly gratified his vanity had he
heard it. They spoke of the different engagements as having
all been hardly fought for by both parties, and that the two
fleets had sustained a dreadful loss of men. " As you will
admit," said they, " when told that since the Heros* arrival,
in the India seas her entire crew have been thrice replaced

A STRANGELY BUILT SHIP 85

the whole having been BO many times destroyed. One of
the men then concluded the account by again declaring the
General was the greatest hero upon earth, and ended with
" Oui, ma foi, C'est une bougre determines ."

Having put these jolly tars on board their ship I pro-
ceeded to the Prussian which lay full two miles on the out-
side of all the ships except the Coventry. I found her upon
a deep heel, but the contrary way to what I had observed in
the morning, from which I supposed it was done purposely
to scrape off the barnacles and clean her sides. I subse-
quently found that was not the case, and that this extra-
ordinary inclining one way or the other arose from the
peculiar construction of her bottom. She had been built
by an enthusiastic schemer, who took it into his head that
he oould build a vessel of such a form as to outstrip every
other, besides carrying more cargo than ships of the same
burthen usually did, and this strange machine was the
production. She sailed remarkably well, but never was
upright, and when it blew fresh lay along so that everyone
expected her every moment to upset altogether. Upon first
putting to sea the commander and officers were so alarmed
at the novelty of her movements that they put into Ports-
mouth to endeavour to get the evil corrected. The ship was
docked, when the builders saw the nature of the ship's frame
must occasion her to lay along with little weight or pressure
from wind, but they did not conceive that any particular
mischief or danger would arise from the ship's being so
easily affected. They also gave it as their opinion that
although the fault could not be entirely cured it might
be materially lessened by fastening two timbers to either
side of her keel. This was done and fully answered what
was expected from it, but did not prevent her having the deep
heel one way or other. The anxiety of the captain from
having so strange a ship deprived him of his senses, so that
for some months previous to their coming into Cuddalore,
as above related, he had been confined to his cabin raving
mad, the chief officer assuming the command.

Upon my getting on board a ferocious looking man, with

86 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

uncommon rough and hard features, rendered still more
uncouth by a large scar across his face, in a fierce and angry
voice and manner accosted me with, " Well, who are you,
and what have you to say ? Are we to be still detained ? "
I replied that Admiral Suffren had sent me to take a passage
for myself and wife on that ship to Madras, or any English
settlement. " Your wife," retorted the savage -loo king man,
"no, no, friend, that will never do, by God ! No woman
can come here, I'll be damned if she can." I thereupon
observed that the lady in question would submit to any
inconveniences, having been inured to uncommon hardships
and sufferings for several months, and that it was an object
of the utmost importance to us to get away from the French.
" I don't doubt it, by God," he answered. " I believe
everybody must be anxious to get out of their clutches, but
I'll be damned if you can get in here." I then observed
that I would willingly pay any sum he demanded for my
passage in his ship. " My ship ! " said he. " You are
damnably mistaken in supposing I have anything to do
with the infernal tub further than having the misfortune
to be a passenger. No, no ! bad enough without that by
God ! " I then requested to speak to the captain. " You
won't gain much by that," said he, " for he is stark, staring
mad, so is his ship, and damn me ! but I believe so are we
all, and you as well as any of us or you would never talk of
bringing a female into such a ship as this." Again I stated
my peculiar situation ; it was all in vain.

Finding I could make no impression upon this man, who
was the only spokesman, I addressed another gentleman
who stood upon deck, who shrugged his shoulders but made
no answer. I was therefore compelled to leave the ship and
make for the shore. On my way it struck me that I might
as well let Mr. Suffren know what had occurred, for which
purpose I stopped alongside the Heros, and although then
quite dark I went on board, and, as usual, was directly
shewn into the Admiral's cabin. After apologizing for my
unseasonable intrusion, I mentioned the ill success of my
application for a passage and the positive refusal I had re-

COMPULSORY ACCOMMODATION 87

ceived, whereupon Mr. Suffren said, " I am sorry, Mr.
Hie key, you have had so much trouble in vain. I must then
try what I can do, and hope I shall have better success."
He then rang his bell. An attendant appearing, he ordered
him to send the officer upon duty. The lieutenant forthwith
coming, he directed him instantly to dispatch a boat to
the Coventry frigate that lay close to the Prussian with
orders that the latter should not upon any account be per-
mitted to stir until Mr. and Mrs. Hickey, their servant and
baggage were received and accommodated to their satisfac-
tion on board. Having sent this concise but peremptory
mandate, he laughingly said to me, " I fancy, sir, that will
do our business and we shall get our object from Master
Prussian, so good night. Let me hear to-morrow what has
been done."

Before I was off my bed the following morning I received
a letter signed " I. Nixon, Lieut. -Col. E.I. Company's
Infantry," saying that as I was the sole cause of their ship's
detention he, on behalf of himself and others, earnestly
requested that myself and family would have the goodness
to embark as soon as possible, the whole cabin being en-
tirely at my disposal. To this pleasing information I re-
turned an answer that the moment a boat could be obtained
we would go off. At eight o'clock we accordingly did so,
my poor Charlotte being mueh frightened at the surf, which
was high, though we passed safely through it.

Mr. Suffren having desired I would let him know the
result of his interference with the Prussian, I stopped at the
Heros not only for that purpose but to offer my grateful
thanks to the Admiral for the many favours conferred upon
me. He expressed his satisfaction at my having succeeded,
asking when I proposed embarking. I replied that I was
then on my way, Mrs. Hickey being in a boat alongside.
" Is she so ? " said the Admiral. " I now heartily lament
my ship has not been accustomed to receive the honour of
visits from the fair sex, and therefore we are without the
means of getting Mrs. Hickey on board, which I should have
been happy to have done. But this being the case I must

88 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

go to her to offer my compliments and make my adieus."
As he was in his usual undress, he hastily called his servant,
with whom he retired for a few minutes to his private apart-
ment, from which he returned with a uniform coat on and
fully equipped. Notwithstanding the ship had considerable
motion, rolling rather deep, he stepped nimbly down her side
wished Mrs. Hie key joy at the near approach of an end to
her most unfortunate voyage, and was altogether exceedingly
gracious and kind. He with much gaiety of manner observed
that as the present visit must necessarily be his last, he
should for his own sake make it as long as possible. I, how-
ever, soon discovered there was a liberal reason for his
saying this, for he had directed his steward to pack up a
variety of things which in about half an hour were put
into our boat, when, taking Mrs. Hickey by the hand, he
requested she would do him the honour to accept a few
articles of refreshment for the short voyage she still had to
perform, and some other trifles which he offered in token
of his respect and regard for his amiable prisoner. Then
gallantly kissing the hand he held, he condescendingly shook
me by the hand, and wishing us both a happy meeting with
our connections and friends, jumped up the side of his
ship with the same agility he had descended, and we
pushed off.

In a few seconds, to my infinite surprize, I saw the Heros
manned, her crew giving us three hearty cheers (no doubt
by the Admiral's desire ) , which we returned . This handsome
compliment was also paid us by two other ships as we passed
close to them, the Sphynx and Cleopatra frigate. At ten in
the morning we reached the Prussian, where we were re-
ceived by the same rough personage I had encountered the
preceding day, whom I found to be the Colonel Nixon that
had written to me. Coming up to me, he offered his hand,
saying, " I take it for granted you are very angry with me
for the reception I gave you yesterday, but I was damnably
out of humour and really thought this truly extraordinary
vessel was not a proper conveyance for a female. Such as
it^is, however, we must do our best for this good lady who

UNDER PRUSSIAN COLOURS 89

bears her own recommendation upon her intelligent coun-
tenance, and whose pardon I beg for my abrupt speeches of
yesterday. Had she been present they could not have been
made, for those mild and benign features would effectually
have softened and silenced me." After this gallant address
he took her by the hand and led her into the round house,
saying, " This, madam, is your room. The only condition
we are compelled to make is that you will allow the party
to mess in it, there being no other cabin large enough to
contain us, and I assure you eating is no small consideration
here, occurring regularly five times every day." He next
politely thanked me for the quickness with which I had come
off to the ship.

Two gentlemen just entering the cabin, the Colonel begged
leave to introduce two Portuguese shipmates, " Though
perhaps," observed he, "as no further necessity remains
for disguise it may be as well to announce them under their
proper titles. This therefore is Captain Hallam of His
Majesty's 102nd Regiment of foot, and this Major Alcock of
the Company's service. We three left the Southern Army
together, embarking at Tranquebar for Madras. Upon being
seized by the Coventry and forcibly taken into Cuddalore we
were apprehensive from the general character of Suffren
that he would, at any rate, lay hands upon us, even if he
allowed the ship to escape his clutches. I am too well and
too generally known to attempt any deception, but my
friends here, not being in a similar predicament, resolved to
assume the situation of Portuguese merchants, under which
description they hoped to escape imprisonment.

From these officers I had the supreme felicity to learn
that our prospects were not quite so forlorn as they had
been represented by the French, that although it was too
true the whole of our possessions upon the coast of Coro-
mandel, but more especially Madras and its neighbourhood,
were suffering under the dreadful calamity of famine, yet
the fortress itself was in the highest order, well garrisoned
and fully prepared to resist any attack the enemy might
think proper to make ; that the Bengal treasury was very

90 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

rich, the country in the most flourishing condition, and a
powerful reinforcement of men and stores of every descrip-
tion at that time on its way from thence to Madras, under
the command of the very popular and distinguished officer,
General Sir Eyre Coote. I was further informed that all the
three engagements recently fought at sea had ended de-
cidedly in favour of the British, notwithstanding the French
had given so totally different an account of the issue of the
battles, and had actually shewn me drawings of the relative
state of the two fleets, whereby it was made evident that
the English had much the worst of it, and only saved from
utter destruction by a disgraceful flight. This was indeed
a moat gratifying history to me who had conceived we were
undone.

I found what Colonel Nixon had premised respecting the
frequency of the meals on board the Prussian strictly true ;
it was a perpetual scene of eating and drinking. The Colonel
seemed to have the chief command ; indeed he early told
me such was the fact, the company's agent at Tranquebar
having freighted the vessel for Madras and named him the
chief director.

In the evening, Mrs. Hie key and myself only being in the
cabin, I proposed examining Mr. Suffren's presents. We
accordingly opened the parcels which we found to contain
some papers of chocolate, a variety of preserves, confec-
tionary, fruits, savoy cakes, liqueurs, etc., a pair of beautiful
shawls, six pieces of very fine worked muslin, four pieces of
Vizagapatam long cloth, four rich kincobs and six pieces of
handkerchiefs. It was a magnificent present. Between the
shawls was a note by Mr. Launay, written, as he stated, by
Mr. Suffren's desire, requesting Mrs. Hickey's acceptance of
the articles that accompanied^ and .to do away with any
scruples she might feel, JHe was further directed to inform
her that the whole was originally English property, having
with large quantities of the same things fallen into the
General's hands from a prize he had taken in the Bay of
Bengal. Mr. Launay in a postscript added that he deemed
it a necessary precaution to obtain Mr. Suffren's pass for us

A PASS FROM ADMIRAL SUFFREN 91

in ease we should on our progress to Bengal fall in with any
French cruisers. This document I have preserved as a
memorial of uncommon attention in so elevated a character
as Mr. Suffren undoubtedly was, to two insignificant and
unknown foreigners. The pass is in these words :

" PIERRE ANDR& DE SUFFREN, CHEVALIER GRAND CROIX
DB L'ORDRE DE ST. JEAN DE JERUSALEM, CHEF D'ESCARDRE
COMMANDANT LES FORCES NA VALES DE FRANCE DANS LES MERS
DE L'INDE. Ayant permis a monsieur et madame Hiquet
anglois de nation de passer dans les possessions angloises.
Deffendons a tout Commandants des Batiments du Roy ou
autres de Les arretter, et ordonnons de le laisser passer libre-
ment et sans retard quelconque.

A Bord du Heros le 22nd mars 1783.

LE CHR. DE SUFFREN."

For what reason it was post-dated I do not know, but it
was so several days.

Colonel Nixon who under an affected misanthropy and
general roughness possessed as much sensibility, and as
great a degree of benevolence towards the whole human
race, with as warm a heart as any person living, behaved to
Mrs. Hie key and me with the most engaging attention. He
listened to the melancholy tale of her sufferings with sym-
pathetic compassion and feeling. Before we had been
twelve hours in his company he gave me a pressing invitation
to accept apartments in his house at Madras, assuring me
his wife, with three fine girls, his daughters, would be happy
to receive Mrs. Hie key and console her for her late mis-
fortunes by shewing her every kindness in their power. He
told me he had been absent from his family upwards of a
twelvemonth, serving with the army first against Hyder
Ali and since his death against an equal tyrant, his son,
Tippoo Sultaun, as he was pleased to style himself ; that
he had left the Southern Army only fourteen days before in
company with Major Alcock and Captain Hallam. This
unexpected civil invitation I thankfully declined, telling the
Colonel that I had several old friends at Madras who would

92 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

expect to receive me during my short sojourn in that place,
amongst whom were Mr. Hall Plumer, Mr. Josias Du Pre
Porcher, and Mr. Stephen Popham, and that I presumed the
first gentleman would insist upon once more being my host .
Colonel Nixon observed that he believed Mr. Plumer had
left India and returned to Europe the last season ; Mes-
sieurs Porcher and Popham were, he knew, both at Madras.
The Colonel was so determined a John Bull that he could
not bear to hear a Frenchman well spoken of, nor seemed to
consider the people of that nation one remove from brutes.
As he asked me many questions relative to the treatment I
had met with while at Trincomalay, common justice, inde-
pendent of my own inclination, made me a panegyrist, at
which he was greatly surprized, declaring he did not con-
ceive there was a Frenchman in existence possessed of
generosity or even common humanity, but he readily
admitted he was glad to find himself mistaken. He desired
I would give him the names of those persons from whom I
had received particular acts of liberality and kindness, that
if the chance of war should ever put any of them within his
power he might avail himself of the opportunity in some
measure to repay the friendly acts shewn to an Englishman.
With infinite pleasure I complied, and made out the following
list, from every individual of which I had received innumer-
able instances of liberality. At the head I placed my con-
stant and zealous friend, Captain Gautier, then my generous
landlord Mr. Chevillard Be Montesson, Admiral Suffren, the
Counts Be Bruyere and Adhemar, Le Chevalier Be Sal vert ;
captains in the navy, Cuverville, Joyeuze, Buchillon, Trom-
melin and Malle, Lieutenant L'Anglade of the same regi-
ment as Gautier, lieutenants in the navy, Beddel, Touris,
Mevillard and Ritchirie (the last named has since figured as
one of the tyrant Bonaparte's admirals), Messieurs Bois-
sieres, Panchemin, Be Grange, the Commissary General, and
Be Launay, the Admiral's secretary. It would have been
an unpardonable mark of ingratitude had I omitted to put
down the names of Mr. and Mrs. Vansenden, the Butch
chief and his lady, from whom we received a thousand

A LIST OF FRENCH FRIENDS 93

instances of generous hospitality. This list I delivered to
Colonel Nixon, remarking when I did so that I might have
materially increased it by adding the names of every naval
and military man with whom I was acquainted at Trincoma-
lay, with the single exception of Colonel Des Roys.

CHAPTER VII

LIFE IN MADRAS

ON the 21st of March, at about ten o'clock in the morning,
we came to an anchor in Madras Roads, when Colonel
Nixon, Major Alcock and Captain Hallam immediately went
on shore. In little more than two hours Colonel Nixon re-
turned in the accommodation or Government boat, renewing
in Mrs. Nixon's name the most pressing solicitation that we
would take up our abode at her house. " However," added
the Colonel, "it is but fair in me to tell you that you are
not likely to be in want should you still decline my wife's
invitation, as I think I left half a dozen different persons
waiting upon the beach for your landing ready to seize upon
you, so that in the amicable contest I fear we shall stand
no chance. Come along, therefore, and we must endeavour
to divide you among us as well as we can, but Popham
protests you must and shall be his exclusive guests."

My dear girl, who at no period of her life bestowed much
time at her toilet, was soon ready, when the worthy Colonel
superintended the getting her into the boat and escorted us
on shore. The surf was high, but we got safely through it
On the beach stood Mr. Popham and Mr. Porcher. The latter
after congratulating us upon our arrival said he was obliged
reluctantly to yield us up to Mr. Popham, who claimed a
prior right to him. Popham told me everything was ready
for our reception at his house in the Black town, and step-
ping into his chariot we were driven to it, Porcher having
accepted his invitation to dinner.

This Mr. Popham is the person I have before mentioned
as coming to India with Sir John Day. Mr. Popham was
always an extraordinary being. Blest with superior talents,

94

INTRODUCTION TO LORD MACARTNEY 95

improved by a classical education, he fell a martyr to a
speculative disposition and a strong inclination for gambling,
the latter foible having so deeply involved him he could not
remain in his native country. At the time I arrived at
Madras he, by his abilities, had raised himself to the top of
his profession, and had for many months been Attorney to
the Company, which honourable and lucrative situation
added to his private practice must very speedily have secured
to him a handsome independent fortune had he stuck to
the law alone, instead of which he had twenty wild schemes
on foot at one and the same time, which prevented his
attending to his business in court, so that every person who
employed him had too much reason to complain of his
shameful negligence. He had recently built an immense
mansion for his own residence, one half of which only was
finished when we went to it, the workmen being engaged in
the other part. He was likewise building a street in the
same neighbourhood consisting of about sixty houses,
besides which he had just purchased the hull of the Hertford
East Indiaman, which ship had been wrecked in a monsoon
gale a few days after the fatal one we encountered in the
month of November, and was by the extraordinary agitation
of the sea washed so far up on the beach as, when the storm
subsided, to be left high and dry. This odd purchase he
made with a view to converting part of the timber and the
whole of the ironwork to his buildings, for which purpose he
had about forty persons employed in breaking her up, the
labour thereof amounting to so much as to render the
materials produced of considerably more cost than he could
have purchased them for entirely new.

Mr. Popham, having shewn Mrs. Hie key to a suite of
rooms delightfully situated up two pair of stairs, command-
ing a very extensive and beautiful prospect in every direc-
tion, proposed introducing me to the Governor, Lord
Macartney, a compliment he thought I ought to pay without
delay. We accordingly immediately went to the Govern-
ment house in the Fort. Lord Macartney gave me a most
gracious reception, after the customary salutations, telling

96 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

me that my father was an old friend of his, which I well
knew, having often seen his lordship, when Sir George
Macartney, in St. Albans Street. I likewise recollected
frequently to have heard my father say that when Sir
George was first appointed Ambassador of Russia he was
prevented from setting off for St. Petersburgh by a want of
money to discharge some pressing creditors, and that he
(my father) had lent him five hundred pounds to enable
him to discharge them, and that after several of his own con-
nections had positively refused to assist him. My father
had been a fellow Collegian with him in the University of
Dublin.

His lordship made many enquiries respecting the state of
the French fleet, all of which I answered to the best of my
knowledge. After having so done I, without in the least
softening the matter, told him what Mr. Suffren had re-
peatedly said about him, at which he appeared greatly hurt,
declaring the French commander most unjust in charging
him with want of delicacy or politeness, for that he had in-
variably answered the applications relative to an exchange
of prisoners, although from some peculiar circumstances he
had it not in his power to establish a cartel. I also delivered
Captain Duchillon's message in the very words he spoke,
at which his lordship laughed heartily, observing that were
it his fate again to be in the situation he was when at Grenada
there was not an officer in the navy of France whom he would
prefer sailing with to Captain Duchillon, whom he knew by
experience to be an honourable and kind-hearted man, to
whom he felt himself under high obligation for the greatest
attention and civility whilst on board his ship on the
passage from the West Indies.

After a conversation of nearly two hours, Lord Macartney
remarked that it was then the hour of dinner ; he therefore
hoped Mr. Popham and I would do him the favour to stay,
which, of course, we did, Pophain sending home to Mrs.
Hickey to apologize for his absence the first day of her being
his guest.

We sat down to what seemed to me very indifferent fare

FRUGALITY AT GOVERNOR'S TABLE 97

for a Governor's table. Indeed, his lordship, at the begin-
ning of the meal, said the melancholy effects of the dreadful
famine with which they had been afflicted, though lessened,
had by no means ceased ; that provisions were still scarce
from the distress of the country people who used to bring
poultry and other articles to market, and that in such a time
of dearth he thought it right to be as frugal as possible.

As it happened to be one of the public days we found a
large party assembled. Amongst the company present was
my old friend Colonel Pearse, of the Bengal Artillery, then
commanding a detachment of several thousand men recently
arrived from Calcutta, and preparing to take the field by
joining the Southern Army assembling to attack Cuddalore.
Another of his lordship's guests was Sir John Burgoyne,
Colonel of a noble regiment of light dragoons in His Majesty's
service, also Colonel Floyd and some other officers of the
same regiment. We had, too, Sir Erasmas Gower, of the
Medea frigate, my friend Mr. Porcher, etc.

The whole party were much disconcerted at hearing of
the important reinforcements, both naval and military, that
had joined Mr. De Suffren from Europe, under the Count
De Bussy, of which no information had reached Madras
until I gave it, all communication to the southward being
cut off by Tippoo's troops being in complete possession of the
country between Cape Comorin and Fort St. George. This
information became of more consequence from the unac-
countable absence of Sir Edward Hughes 's fleet, also from
the hourly expectation of the arrival of a number of India-
men from Europe, and two large country ships with military
stores, men and money from Calcutta, Sir Eyre Coote,
commander -in-chief, being on board one of them, so that
there was but too much probability of these two ships and
the East Indiamen being intercepted and cut off by the
French.

The 22nd in the morning, upon Mrs. Hie key and my
descending to the breakfast-room on the middle floor, we
there saw a gentleman sitting at the window, having much
more the appearance of a corpse than a living creature. I

III.— H

98 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

never beheld a person looking so ill, an absolute skeleton.
Upon our entering the room he made an effort to rise, but
tottered from extreme weakness, on perceiving which my
darling girl was greatly distressed, kindly entreating he
would keep his seat, and expressing her concern at seeing
him so much indisposed. In a languid and feeble voice he
returned thanks, saying he was materially better than he
had been. Mr. Popham coming in, introduced us to the
invalid as Captain Isaac Humphreys, private secretary and
aide-de-camp to Colonel Pearse. He had been long confined
from a jungle fever (something like our ague) with which he
had been attacked whilst in a forest on the march from
Bengal, and which had brought him to the brink of the
grave. I afterwards became very intimate with this
gentleman.

Breakfast being over, I went to call upon several of my
former acquaintances, particularly Major Cot grove, Mr.
Perryn, Porcher, Torin, Sullivan, the Advocate -General,
Dr. Lucas, and Captain Sydenham, the Fort Major. I
likewise left my name at Sir John Burgoyne's.

Upon returning home I found the famous Mr. Paul
Benfield sitting with Popham and Mrs. Hickey. He had left
England many months subsequent to me, having been only
eighty-one days from London to Madras overland. He had
done me the honour to visit me several times in St. Albans
Street, he having quitted India soon after I did, and getting
home long before me. I had also been invited to, and was
present at, some grand entertainments he gave at his mag-
nificent house in Portland Place, our intercourse continuing
until he one morning upon calling at my father's found
Mr. Edmund Burke there, who had then recently attacked
him in Parliament as a notorious defaulter, who had em-
bezzled large sums of his employer's money which came to
his hands from official situations he filled, had basely and
iniquitously robbed and plundered the Nabob of Arcot, and
was in many respects the greatest delinquent that ever had
left India. Benfield appeared extremely awkward and em-
barrassed, spoke not a word from the time of his entrance,

LET THE CANDLES BE LIGHTED AGAIN 99

and in a few minutes made his retreat ; from this time he
never more called, and if I accidentally met him in public
he always looked another way to avoid the necessity of a
salutation, concluding, as I presume, that a member of a
family upon the intimate terms he observed mine were with
a person who had avowed himself so hostile towards him as
Mr. Burke was not a fit acquaintance for him. I was there-
fore a good deal surprized at receiving so early a visit from
him at Madras. He made a number of civil speeches, in-
vited us in pressing terms to his house on Choultry Plain,
offered us the use of his various equipages, and having learnt
that Mrs. Hie key was fond of the exercise of riding on horse-
back, said he would send an Arab she would admire that
would carry her delightfully, being as docile an animal as
any in Europe. He accordingly did send a most beautiful
creature, also another for me. A European servant attended
with them, who said his master had directed him to wait
upon me every evening to receive my orders for the following
day.

Mrs. Hickey had this day a number of female visitors,
amongst the first of whom was Mrs. Nixon, with two of her
daughters, Lady Gordon, Mrs. Barclay, Mrs. Floyd, Mrs.
Taner, Mrs. Latham, the lovely Widow Maclellan, the Belle
Johnston, eto. The return of these and many other visits,
with the numerous parties made for our entertainment,
occupied several days.

The 24th the Medea sailed on a look-out cruise. That
day we spent very agreeably with Colonel Nixon's family,
whom we found truly amiable. In the evening the Colonel
said he must be absent for a few minutes in order to pay his
respects to the Governor. He accordingly walked across
the parade. After a very short absence he returned. Upon
entering the room where a large party were then assembled
he bellowed out for the servants to attend, upon whose ap-
pearance he ordered them instantly to blow out all the
candles except one. During this whimsical operation Mrs.
Nixon looked on with the utmost composure, without inter-
fering, but as soon as the candles were extinguished,

100 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

addressing her husband, she mildly said " Pray, my dear,
what is the meaning of this odd freak ? " To which he
replied : " I have just been to the Government House, where
there was not a single taper burning, and that being the
case, by God ! madam, you ought to consider yourself damned
well off in having a pair of candles." " Oh ! if that be all, my
dear," said Mrs. Nixon, "let the candles be lighted again,"
which was instantly done. The Colonel then gave us the fol-
lowing ludicrous account of the visit he had just been upon.
" I went up the great staircase without seeing a single
domestic or any person whatsoever ; the hall was in the same
deserted state, without light. I therefore gave one of my
most powerful holloas ! (and he almost deafened us with the
imitation). ' Is there a living soul in the place or not ? '
Whereupon a mean-looking little rascal, who I verily
believe had been purloining the bread and butter, popped
his head out of a door that looked like a pantry, with a
cocoanut shell about one-fourth part full of oil and a single
wick. Upon the little fellow's nearer approach I discovered
him that contemptible wretch Green, a sort of under-
strapping sub sub secretary of the Governor's. I enquired
whether Lord Macartney was at home, adding that the
question was superfluous from the state of the mansion.
The despicable little animal answered that his lordship was
out taking his evening's airing in a carriage, but he expected
his lordship home every moment. ' The devil you do ! '
said I, ' and give me leave to ask,' ' Is this the way the house
is darkened to receive him ? ' ' Candles will be lighted
when his lordship comes in,' said the little maitre d'hotel.
1 Oh, ho ! will they so,' says I, ' then damn my blood but
this is a good lesson for me who left about thirty wax
candles blazing in my hall. They shall be extinguished
directly, and for once I'll live like a lord! So good night,
my little soup maigre, water-gruel visage. Tell your master
— Oh, zounds ! I beg your pardon, Mr. Sec., the Governor
I ought to have said — that I, Colonel Nixon, have been here
to pay my respects,' and having had sufficient of the little
sub sub I walked away."

AN AUDACIOUS ATTACK 101

Before seven o'clock the following morning Colonel Nixon
called upon me at Mr. Popham's and expressed both surprize
and pleasure at finding me up so early. " I am glad to see
this," said he, "it augurs well, looks like a man of business,
and therefore I'll be your first client." He then pulled from
his pocket a bundle of papers which he desired me to read
over attentively, and when I had so done to read a sketch
of a memorial he intended to present to the Governor and
Council, demanding redress of some great grievances he had
suffered by two supercessions that had recently occurred
whereby he was deprived of the rank of full colonel, which
he was strictly entitled to, not only from his length of
service but from actual seniority, and he desired me to make
such alterations in the memorial as I deemed prudent.
Having complied with his wish, and new modelled the docu-
ment without taking away any of its energy, I returned the
same to him, with which he appeared perfectly satisfied,
presenting me with one hundred and fifty pagodas for the
trouble I had taken. This was nearly sixty pounds sterling.
He also hoped his commencement would prove fortunate,
and that I should meet with the success he was sure I
deserved.

This day a signal was made from the flag-staff that a
strange sail was standing for the Roads from the southward.
At first it was hoped she would prove one of the fleet of India -
men from Europe or, what was of equal consequence, one of
Admiral Sir Edward Hughes's squadron from Bombay.
Everybody with the most eager solicitude ran out of the
fort to the Master Attendant's apartment upon the beach
to mark the approach of the vessel, who continued standing
in with her top-sails lowered down upon the caps, and with-
out shewing any colours until within a quarter of a mile
of the surf, when she hoisted a French Jack and commenced
a brisk fire upon a large Dutch prize and two country ships,
although all three were as close in as they could possibly lay.
The prize-master on board the Dutchman, by this time
having recognized the stranger to be the Coventry, which
had been taken by Suffren, and that she was preparing to

102 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

board him, instantly cut his cables and let his ship drift
through the outer surf and take the ground, in preference
to allowing her to fall into the hands of the enemy. To the
inexpressible astonishment of many hundred spectators
assembled on the ramparts and the beach not a shot was
fired from the fort, notwithstanding with unparalleled
effrontery the enemy stood so near in that she undoubtedly
might have been sunk by the battery of the sea line which
bore full upon her, she having the impudence to heave to
and lay in that state for above half an hour. Having thus
driven our three ships on shore, she leisurely made sail to
the north-east. After she had got an offing of about two
miles the fort began to pepper away at an immense rate
both shot and shells without the least effect. Upon enquir-
ing into the cause of this strange conduct we were informed
that the keys of the store-rooms under the works, in which
the ammunition was kept, had been mislaid and could
nowhere be found for more than an hour. An unpardonable
neglect somewhere, and hardly to be credited that such a
disgraceful event could have occurred in a British fortress,
and that too during the midst of an active and severe war.
Yet so it undoubtedly was. The civilians of Madras were
exceedingly smart in their animadversions upon this
occasion.

In the evening the Medea, who had been looking out for
the two valuable ships from Bengal without success, re-
turned to the Roads, Captain Gower, his officers and crew
being very indignant upon receiving information of the cir-
cumstance respecting the Coventry and the insult thus
offered by an enemy's frigate to the British flag. During
the short time the Medea was at sea Captain Gower had been
violently attacked with the gout and was brought on shore
upon a mattress, totally incapable of moving hand or foot.

The following day (the 26th) a signal was made in the
morning for seven ships coming in from the south-south-east.
These it was hoped would prove the expected Indiamen
from Europe or, if not them, a part of Sir Edward Hughes 's
fleet, but as the strangers advanced it was ascertained that

SICK OR WELL I GO TO MY SHIP 103

some of them were line of battle ships and foreign. The
usual private signal being made from the fort was not
answered, nor did they shew any colours.

Captain Gower, notwithstanding the dreadful pain he
laboured under, was brought down to the water-side to be
conveyed on board his ship. Lord Macartney upon seeing
this went up to the palankeen he was in, and said, " Captain
Gower, as you are so extremely ill surely you had better
not think of embarking, but remain quietly on shore. There
can be no risk of the Medea, which can be protected by the
fort." "I thank your lordship," replied Captain Gower,
" for your attention to me, but on board my ship I must
and will go, it being my proper station sick or well, nor do
I choose to rely upon the protection of a fort that suffers
an enemy to insult it for two hours together without firing
a shot ! " He accordingly was put into a boat and carried
to his ship.

The Medea then made the private navy signal, of which
no notice was taken by the strangers. By this time they
were within two miles, when I recognized the leading ship
to be the Cleopatra, closely followed by the Fendant, of
seventy-four guns, both those vessels sailing uncommonly
well. We afterwards learnt that the others were the
St. Michael, Artisien, Sphynx, Little Hannibal and Bellona
frigate.

Captain Gower, well acquainted with what the Medea
could do, and who had upon many occasions run round
Mr. Suffren's fleet, was greatly surprized at perceiving two
ships with which he was wholly unacquainted, and that
seemed to sail in a very superior style to any of his old
friends. Considerably alarmed at their rapid approach he
deemed it high time to get under way. He therefore slipped
his cables (the Cleopatra and Fendant being within little
more than a mile) and in about four minutes there appeared
one entire crowd of sail, standing directly away before the
wind to the northward. It was a most interesting scene ;
all eyes anxiously followed them. While in sight the two
Frenchmen seemed to gain upon the Medea so fast that she

104 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

was given up for lost ; the rest of the French squadron
jogged on gently under their top -sails.

On the 27th we had the pleasure to hear that the seven
French ships were seen in the offing, standing to the south-
ward, from which it was concluded the Medea had escaped, as
if not she would have been with them. In the afternoon
we had the further gratification to see that frigate once more
at an anchor in Madras Roads. Captain Gower admitted
there was not a doubt but he should have been taken had the
enemy chosen to continue the pursuit a couple of hours
longer than they did, instead of doing which when abreast
of Sadrass they hauled their wind and stood to the eastward,
from which he supposed they had a greater object in view
than that of capturing his frigate, and did not deem it
prudent to run further to the northward, the current then
setting strong in that direction. He was right in his
conjecture.

The 28th the same seven ships again passed through the
Roads, at the distance of six miles from the shore, standing
under very easy sail to the northward. Great apprehen-
sions were therefore entertained for the safety of the two
rich vessels from Bengal, as well as for the outward bound
India fleet.

On the 31st two large ships were seen in the south, which
as soon as their signals were visible proved to be the Resolu-
tion and Royal Charlotte from Bengal, Sir Eyre Coote's
distinguishing flag, as commander-in-chief , flying at the top-
gallant masthead of the former. Everybody was delighted
at this sight, not only on account of the advantages likely
to arise from his taking the field in person, but from his
being revered by the whole army, both European and
native, who had the greatest confidence in his skill and
abilities as a general officer, besides which the supply he
brought with him of men, money and military stores, all
which were greatly wanted, was of the highest importance.

The first boat that came from the Resolution threw a
damp upon the general joy that had prevailed on these two
ships safe arrival by bringing the sad tidings that Sir Eyre

THE DEATH OF SIR EYRE COOTE 105

Coote was dying, if not already dead. The principal medical
gentlemen of the settlement were forthwith sent off to the
Resolution to give their aid to the lamented officer.

In the evening Sir Eyre Coote was brought on shore in a
state of determined apoplexy, in which unhappy state he
remained, quite insensible, until the following morning
when he expired. We then learnt these particulars from
Captain Mercer of the Resolution, who was universally con-
sidered to be as able a seaman and skilful a navigator as
ever stepped a quarter-deck.

This captain, being sensible of the danger that existed
of his falling in with some of the enemy's cruisers, kept as
far out at sea as he dared venture to do without risking the
being driven off the coast altogether by the current. His
intention was thus to keep out at sea until in the latitude
of Madras, then immediately to haul in for the land. In
the morning of the 28th (March) he discovered two sail in
the north-east quarter, courses down, in consequence of
which he hauled more off the land. He, however, soon had
the mortification to find the two strange sail had seen him
and his consort, and were in full chase. By noon they had
gained considerably ; soon after that hour five more ships
of force were seen in different directions, completely sur-
rounding them. Being senior officer, he spoke his consort,
giving him instructions how to act during the night.

From the moment the strange ships hove in sight Sir
Eyre Coote shewed so extraordinary a degree of anxiety
and uneasiness of mind as to make Captain Mercer quite
apprehensive it might affect his health. By evening of the
day they saw them the enemy were within two miles of the
English ships, but in the course of the night Captain Mercer
manoeuvred with such skill and so successfully that at day-
break of the 29th they had increased the distance to nearly
nine miles, the French then standing the contrary -way to
the Resolution and Royal Charlotte. They renewed the
chase for the whole of the day, and by evening the Cleopatra
was so near as to commence a fire upon the Royal Charlotte
from her bow guns, none of which took effect.

106 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

As soon as it was quite dark the two ships stood due east
for one hour, then suddenly took in every sail, thus remain-
ing stationary and the enemy losing sight of them. In the
morning of the 30th they had the pleasure to find this
scheme had completely answered, there being only one sail
j ust discernible from the masthead, bearing west . By reckon-
ing they were now in the latitude of Madras ; Captain Mercer
therefore determined to let the ships continue without canvas,
hoping so small an object as the bare masts might escape
observation. Unfortunately that was not the case, as two
hours afterwards three of the French ships were seen stand-
ing for them. Sir Eyre Coote, who had never quitted the
deck, and had little or no sleep for two nights, suddenly fell
from the chair in which he was sitting in a fit. In an hour
he so far recovered as to enquire, with much agitation,
whether the enemy gained upon them, and whether Captain
Mercer thought there was a chance of escaping. Captain
Mercer, observing him to be in so desponding a state,
assured him he had not a doubt but that they should reach
Madras in safety, although, in fact, he had scarce a hope
left of so doing. He then used all his influence to prevail
upon the General to take some refreshment and lay down
for a few hours to recruit nature. He thereupon consented
to drink some mulled madeira wine, but said attempting to
sleep would be fruitless.

The enemy gained considerably, but towards evening
were still at a distance of four miles. Captain Mercer told
Sir Eyre that just before dark he would stand to the north-
ward, which he trusted would induce the French to imagine
he meant to push for Bengal again, and that they would
follow in that direction. He then hailed the Royal Charlotte,
directing her commander to keep as close as possible upon
his quarter and when quite dark to hand all his upper sails
and haul in direct for the land. The night favoured them,
being extremely squally with hard rain. Sir Eyre Coote 's
agitation, if possible, increased ; he every minute enquired
if the ships were seen. About midnight the man stationed
at the bolt-sprit end to look out suddenly called out that

THE TWO BURIALS 107

a large ship was running on board of them, whereupon Sir
Eyre instantly fell into a fit of apoplexy, from which he never
recovered. This alarm arose from the Royal Charlotte having
her tiller rope broke in a severe gust of wind, upon which she
flew short round and very nearly fell aboard the Resolution.

In the afternoon of the day on which the General died
his funeral took place with great solemnity. The church,
from a want of room in the fort, had, during the famine,
been entirely filled with bags of rice. It therefore became
necessary to clear the principal aisle, at the end of which
near the pulpit the grave was dug. The corpse was carried
from the Admiralty House by eight European sergeants, the
pall being borne by Lord Macartney and five of the principal
gentlemen of the settlement. The funeral party was com-
manded by Sir John Burgoyne, and consisted of his regiment
of Light Dragoons, part of the 101st regiment of Foot, a
complete regiment of Hanoverians, with two battalions of
Sepoys. These Corps formed a street through which the
procession passed, preceded by the Hanoverian band playing
the Dead March in Saul, the whole having a very grand
though melancholy effect. The church being situated in a
narrow and confined part of the fort did not admit of the
three volleys being fired ; the Dragoons which were ap-
pointed to fire them therefore upon the body entering the
church marched off to the parade for the purpose, and did
so to quick time, the fifes playing " Nancy Dawson," an
awkward change from the solemn ceremony and certainly
ill-judged, notwithstanding in a military sense it might be
strictly correct .

Sir Eyre Coote's corpse was the only one I ever heard of
that went through two formal burials. Lady Coote, who was
in England at the time of the General's death, being desirous
that her husband's remains should be deposited in the
family vault with his ancestors, sent orders to that purpose
to India, in consequence whereof the body was taken out
of the grave at Madras, put on board ship, and conveyed to
England, where it was once more interred in the presence
of a number of relations and friends of the deceased.

CHAPTER VIII

ADMIRAL SIR EDWARD HUGHES AND THE RIVAL

FLEETS

ON the 2nd of April Mrs. Hie key and I went to pass the
day at Mrs. Barclay's garden-house a few miles from
Madras, where both she and Mr. Barclay, her husband, gave us
a most pressing invitation to fix our abode altogether, which
I promised to do in a week or ten days, as it would take that
time to prepare a sufficient stock of apparel for Mrs. Hie key
and myself. In going to their house a truly melancholy
spectacle met our sight, at which my dearest Charlotte was
beyond measure affected, the whole road being strewed on
both sides with the skulls and bones of the innumerable
poor creatures who had there laid themselves down and
miserably perished from want of food, being on their way
from different parts of the country to Madras, in the hope of
obtaining relief there, a relief it was not, alas ! in the power
of the British inhabitants to afford from the thousands and
tens of thousands that daily flocked towards the Presidency.
While sitting after dinner at Mr. Barclay's we heard a
salute from the fort, and soon after received the agreeable
intelligence that Sir Edward Hughes with his fleet was
arrived from Bombay. In the evening Mr. Popham came
out to say he had visited the Admiral, who, having heard
there was a gentleman at Madras that had very recently
been a prisoner at Trincomalay, was desirous of having
some conversation with him ; that he (Mr. Popham) had
therefore promised I would accompany him to breakfast on
board the following morning. He and I accordingly went
off before seven o'clock of the 3rd in the Government boat.
Having passed the surf, the Admiral's barge, which was

108

A VISIT TO THE FLAGSHIP 109

waiting there for the purpose, received and rowed us in
capital style to the Superb, the flag-ship. Upon getting up
her side we were received by two officers, who conducted
us aft. In passing the quarter-deck I there saw a gentleman
in a lieutenant's uniform whose face was perfectly familiar
to me. I had, however, then no opportunity of asking
about him.

Sir Edward Hughes received us with the utmost polite-
ness. After asking me a number of questions respecting
Admiral Suffren and his fleet, all which I answered very
fully and particularly, I mentioned the handsome terms in
which the French commander always spoke of him, at which
he appeared highly gratified, returning the compliment by
pronouncing an encomium and panegyric upon Mr. Suffren's
qualities and talents as a seaman, saying, " Mr. Suffren,
sir, is as gallant a man as ever lived, of which I have in many
instances been an eye-witness. In the last action, after
fighting his ship in a manner bordering upon desperation
and performing wonders, the superior fire of the Superb and
Sultan completely silenced that of the Heros. Those two
British ships continued pouring broadsides into her without
her being able to return a single gun. My ship being within
pistol shot, I could distinctly see all that occurred. Her
upper deck was more than once completely cleared, scarce
a man remaining upon it except Mr. Suffren himself, who
ran up and down the quarter-deck like a lunatic, crying out
most earnestly for some fortunate shot to take him off. I
have never thought of the scene but with astonishment,
and how the Heros sustained such a tremendously galling
fire is still incomprehensible to me. A very few minutes
must, however, have decided her fate by inevitably sending
her to the bottom, when an accidental explosion took place
on board the Superb, blowing up the entire forecastle,
whereby thirty of my brave fellows were destroyed and the
rest of my crew thrown into confusion, not only from the
lamentable circumstance itself but from the fire's com-
municating to the middle part of the ship, which was soon
in a blaze. The extraordinary exertions of my officers, ably

110 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

supported and aided by the ship's crew, at last extinguished
the flames and saved us from destruction. In the midst
of this truly awful and terrific misfortune the Hannibal,
having silenced her former adversary, came down in the most
resolute and determined manner, running in between the
Sultan and Heros, whereby he clearly preserved his Admiral's
ship. The conflict ended only with the daylight, both
squadrons being at that time so shattered the battle could
not have continued much longer, the ammunition of both
being nearly expended. The two fleets then, as if by agree-
ment, let go their anchors higgledy-piggledy, a Frenchman
and an Englishman close together, and thus they remained
not only the whole of that night but all the next day,
mutually repairing their damage, in the evening getting up
their anchors and separating like tired, worn-out bulldogs
after a desperate struggle, neither party shewing the least
inclination to renew the contest. The fact is, it was a drawn
battle ; neither did nor would have been justified in calling
themselves victors. The slaughter in both fleets was dread-
ful, and our rigging almost totally destroyed."

Sir Edward requesting I would give him a list of the
enemy's fleet, with my observations upon the condition of
each ship, I sat down in his cabin and there made out the
following :

Her os : 74. The Admiral's ship. The hull in a tolerable
state, but the whole of the rigging greatly worn and no
new on board to replace it.

Hannibal: 74. Count De Bruyere, second in command.
Hull tolerable, rigging very indifferent, and the main-
mast badly sprung.

Illustre : 74. Count Adhemar, third in command. The
ship very leaky, the rigging as bad as either of the last-
named ships, and in want of a set of top-sails.

Pendant : 74. The Count De Bussy came from France in
this ship a few weeks back. Every article on board, ai
well as the ship itself, in the best condition and greatest
order. The Pendant is by far the best sailer of the fleet.

CONDITION OF THE FRENCH FLEET 111

Hardi : 74. Another of De Bussy's squadron. In perfect

order in every respect.
Vengeur : 64. So extremely leaky and generally out of

repair that it was with difficulty she was kept above

water.

Argonaut : 64. Leaky, rigging all to pieces.
Ajax : 64. In tolerable condition, having recently been

refitted and new rigged at the Isle of France.
Artisien : 64. Her upper works very open, rigging in-
different.
Sphynx : 64. Hull in tolerable condition, rigging the same,

but short of sails.

Flamand : 64. Tolerable state in every respect.
St. Michael : 64. One of De Bussy's squadron. Leaky,

amply stored.
Le Severe : 64. In a good state as to hull, rigging very

indifferent.

Brilliant : 64. Much in want of repair and stores.
Petit Hannibal : 50. In good order in every respect.
Cleopatra : 44. A very fine frigate, one of De Bussy's

squadron, and in the best possible state.
Consolante : 44. Lately refitted at the Isle of France.
Pourvoyeuse : 44. Almost tumbling to pieces, and in want

of every kind of stores.

Apollo : 36. Recently from France. In good condition.
Le Fin : 32. The same.
Coventry : 32. An English prize. Out of repair, both hull

and rigging.

Bellona : 32. Very leaky, rigging good.
Naiade : 26. In good condition in every respect.
Fortune : 20. The same, being recently from Europe.

After I delivered the above to Sir Edward he Bent for
the second lieutenant, whom he requested to shew to me
every part of the ship. I was equally surprized and pleased
at the contrast between the main deck of the Superb and

112 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

that of the Heros, the former being delightfully neat and
clean throughout, the latter disgusting to behold from filth
and dirt. Whilst between decks I observed the same
gentleman pass I had seen upon the quarter-deck on coming
on board, who immediately came up and, addressing me by
name, hoped I was well and had left all my family so.
Still at a loss who this was, I was obliged to acknowledge
that fact, when he told me his name was Norris, and I then
recognized an old London acquaintance whom I used fre-
quently to meet in parties at Mrs. Broadhead's and at my
sister's. He at that time commanded a troop in a regiment
of Light Dragoons, had an excellent house and establishment,
kept his carriage, and was in possession of an estate of two
thousand pounds per annum, the whole of which he ran
through. When nearly at the end of his career a daughter
of the wealthy Mr. Andrew Moffatt danced with him at an
assembly, became desperately enamoured, and in ten days
afterwards went off with him to Gretna Green, where the
useful Cyclops joined them together in holy matrimony.
The young lady being a favourite child, it was generally
supposed her father would easily be reconciled to the match
and would give her at least thirty thousand pounds, but,
on the contrary, the old man proved so obdurate he never
would see either of them or advance a single guinea. Various
attempts were made to soften him, but all in vain ; he was
inexorable. Thus the distresses and embarrassments of
Captain Norris were increased by being burthened with an
extravagant wife whom he had married solely from an
interested motive, in the hope of clearing himself from all
difficulties by means of her fortune. Disappointed in this
object, the wife became his abhorrence, for the expected
cash failing, she had not qualifications to fix the affections
of a gay, volatile young man. The newly made husband,
indifferent even to appearances, forthwith abandoned her to
her fate, which she, being viciously disposed, soon rejoiced
at and became an absolute profligate. He, who had in early
youth been a midshipman in the navy, availed himself of
an intimate friend's going into the Mediterranean in the

CONDITION OF THE ENGLISH FLEET 113

command of a frigate, to accompany him, resuming his old
profession. This friend promoted him to the rank of lieu-
tenant, in which situation he acquired a considerable sum
of prize money, liquidated his debts, sold his troop of
Dragoons, and finally accepted the situation of third
lieutenant on board the Superb upon Sir Edward Hughes
being appointed to the India station. At the time I fell in
with him, as above mentioned, he was second lieutenant.

After talking of several old friends, I happened to men-
tion the Forrest and Byng families, when he told me Colonel
Byng's eldest son, George, was a midshipman of the Superb,
a fine pickle fellow. I therefore begged to see him, but
Mr. Norris told me he was absent upon duty on board the
Sultan, that he would mention my arrival to him, and was
sure he would soon find me out.

Having seen every part of the ship, I returned to the
Admiral's apartment, when I expressed the great satisfac-
tion it afforded me to see the Superb in such perfect good
condition. Sir Edward replied, " She undoubtedly is in
excellent condition, and I have the satisfaction to assure
you, Mr. Hickey, that every ship in my fleet is equally so.
Their present state is very different indeed to what it was
four months ago, when the whole of them were sadly shat-
tered from the different conflicts we had with your friend,
Admiral Suffren. The cabin you are now sitting in was
then an absolute cullender, being perforated in every
direction by cannon-balls. In the very spot where you are
standing my secretary, Mr. Cuthbert, was sitting at a table
writing my minutes during the last battle. Fortunately I,
having occasion to speak to him, called him out to the
quarter-deck. Almost in the instant he rose to come to me
a six-and-thirty pounder struck both the table and the
chair in which he had been seated, shivering them to pieces.
The shot then lodged in one of the knees on the opposite
side. This was a narrow escape."

Mr. Popham, looking at his watch, observed he must go
on shore, and asked if I were ready, whereupon Sir Edward
Hughes directly said to me : "No, no, sir, that cannot be.
in.— i

114 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

I insist upon your spending the day with me. You will
find some pleasant men who are to dine here ; in the mean-
time I will endeavour to amuse you as well as I can." Then,
turning to Mr. Popham, he continued, " Probably, Mr.
Popham, your professional avocations may render it neces-
sary for you to go on shore for a few hours. If so, you shall
have a boat to take you to the edge of the surf and bring
you back a little before two o'clock, at which time dinner
will be on the table."

This matter being so arranged, Mr. Popham departed,
and the Admiral, seating himself by me, resumed the con-
versation upon the different actions with the French, when
he told me he, as well as Mr. Suffren, had suffered from the
misconduct of two of his captains who had certainly not
acted like the rest, although Sir Richard King, the next
in command to himself, was not of the same opinion, upon
which subject some high words had passed between him
and Sir Richard which had occasioned a coolness, and they
had not since had any intercourse or communication together
except upon points of duty. " However, I am glad to say
we now understand each other, the coolness has subsided,
and this day we are to meet once more as friends. It is to
be a reconciliation dinner."

A servant entered to say the Captain requested to speak
to the Admiral, when I offered to leave the apartment, but
was prevented by Sir Edward, who bid the servant say,
with his compliments, he was ready to receive the Captain.
In a few minutes afterwards I had the pleasure to see my
old acquaintance, Captain Newcome, whom I had left in
the year 1779 a lieutenant of the Rippon, Sir Edward
Vernon's flag -ship, and who now was Sir Edward Hughes 's
captain. He was rejoiced at the meeting, and the Admiral
appeared pleased at our knowing each other. The business
he came upon being concluded, and the Captain about to
leave the apartment, Sir Edward good-humouredly said,
" Having already engrossed so much of your time, Mr.
Hie key, and as it will not be fair in me to monopolize you,
I must, though I acknowledge unwillingly, resign you a

SIR EDWARD'S GALLANTRY 115

little to others, so if you please accompany Captain New-
come to his cabin. We shall meet again before two o'clock."

I accordingly went out with Captain Newcome, and spent
a couple of hours very agreeably talking over former occur-
rences. I found he was the third commander the Superb
had had within the short space of eight months, Captain
Maclellan and another whose name I do not recollect having
been killed in action. Captain Newcome spoke in the highest
terms of Sir Edward Hughes 's gallantry, saying he always
exposed himself to the hottest of the enemy's fire, and had
several hairbreadth escapes, especially in the last battle
off Battecola, on the island of Ceylon, where in the severest
part of it, oppressed by heat and fatigue, he called for a
glass of water, which his steward, an old and faithful servant
who had been with him from infancy, had just brought and
was holding to him when a cannon-ball literally cut the
servant in two, the mutilated body falling at the Admiral's
feet and the blood flying all over him. A severe trial for
any man's fortitude.

In the course of our conversation Captain Newcome told
me there was another old acquaintance of mine in the fleet,
Captain Mitchell, whom I had left a midshipman of the
Rippon, but who now commanded the Sultan, a seventy-
four, and who would sail that evening commodore of five
ships of the line in search of the French squadron that had
lately been seen cruising on the coast, to expedite the sailing
of which five ships all the boats of the fleet were employed
supplying them with water and provisions.

Captain Newcome proposing that we should take a walk,
we went upon deck, where I observed a dapper little fellow
whom I conceived to be a midshipman exceedingly busy
giving orders respecting a variety of signals that were then
flying. From an extraordinary likeness to John Buller of
Bengal, I imagined he must be of the same family, and asked
the Captain whether that midshipman, in the plain blue
coat, was not a Buller. " The person you point to," said
Captain Newcome, " certainly is a Buller, though you are
a little mistaken as to his rank, for instead of being a mid-

116 MEMOIES OF WILLIAM HICKEY

shipman he is the first lieutenant of this ship and will to-
morrow be a post -captain, the Admiral having made him
into the Chaser, a prize taken from the French."

At two o'clock Sir Richard King, Captain Mitchell and
all the other captains of the fleet were assembled on board
the Superb, soon after which we sat down to a dinner so
magnificent, and so capitally dressed, that it would not
have discredited the cooks of the London, or any ether
equally celebrated tavern. Captain Mitchell who sat next
to me at table asked me what I thought of Sir Edward's
fare, to which I answered I never had seen so splendid an
entertainment, and had no idea such a one could have been
produced on board a ship. " Oh," says my neighbour,
" our gallant Admiral likes good living, and always takes
care to provide himself with a professed cook. Indeed, he
usually has both a French and an English cook. His present
chief performer is of the former country, his English cook
being killed in the last action, but notwithstanding this loss
you will presently see one of John Bull's favourite dishes in
all its glory," and sure enough after two courses of all sorts
of finery there were served up most admirable beefsteaks,
smoking hot, and which to the eye and to the palate could
not have been surpassed at Dolly's. A succession of these
followed each other for half an hour, and I afterwards dis-
covered that Sir Edward Hughes 's nickname in the fleet
was " Hot-and-hot," he being remarkably fond of, and
always doing complete justice to, this truly English dish.

After a liberal allowance of the best French wines and
madeira, and drinking nine public toasts, coffee was served.
At dusk the party broke up, the different commanders
repairing to their respective ships, Mr. Popham (who had
returned on board a few minutes after we sat down to dinner)
and I going on shore wonderfully pleased with the day's
entertainment. Just as we landed, the five ships, the
Sultan bearing a commodore's pennant, got under way,
standing to the northward to look after the enemy.

On the 4th a large fleet made its appearance, whereupon
the remaining British ships prepared for action. It, how-

LUCKY ESCAPES 117

ever, proved to be the expected Indiamen from Europe,
under convoy of the Bristol, of fifty guns, commanded by
Captain Burney. Upon coming to an anchor we heard that
they had not seen anything of the French, nor been at all
aware of their imminent danger. In fact, Madam Fortune
seemed to have distributed her favours with an even hand
to both nations, for we soon afterwards understood that
Admiral Sunren, returning from his expedition to Cuddalore,
having with him all the empty transports, and the Blake,
in which we were conveyed from Trincomalay, was one dark
night so close to Sir Edward Hughes 's fleet that one of the
latter's frigates captured the Blake, and had the British
Admiral known the situation the respective parties were in
the French commander -in-chief, with three line of battle
ships and a number of transports, must have fallen into his
hands. The captain of the Blake, being a shrewd fellow,
when taken and being asked about the French fleet, without
hesitation said they were all in the harbour of Trincomalay
refitting and taking in water, though he felt he was telling
the falsehood at the risk of being detected every moment.
The deception, however, succeeded, the fleets, happily for
Mr. SufTren, passed each other unseen ; but to balance this
piece of ill-luck was the safe arrival of the valuable Indiamen,
which had been in the threefold peril of meeting with Mr.
De Bussy's squadron, also Mr. Suffren's on his return from
Cuddalore to Trincomalay, and the five ships he had dis-
patched for the express purpose of intercepting them.

It was a curious circumstance to which the Bristol and her
convoy owed their safety. Captain Burney, when about an
hundred leagues to the southward of Ceylon, informed the
senior captain of the company's ships that it was his in-
tention to make the southern point of that island, and run
up along shore to the coast of Coromandel, to which pro-
ceeding the Indiaman's commodore objected as being.replete
with danger, " For," said he, " the French well know that
such is the usual custom of the English ships from Europe ;
they will consequent!}7 look out in that direction." Instead,
therefore, of making Ceylon at all he recommended passing

118 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

it at least fifteen leagues to the eastward, running in that
direction until nearly in the latitude of Madras and then at
onoe hauling in for the land, and all the commanders of the
India ships concurred in the propriety of so doing. Captain
Burney therefore, with a diffidence and modesty that did
him honour, gave up his plan and adopted that of a number
of gentlemen to whom he gave credit for superior local
knowledge, and he had the gratification to find that by so
doing the whole of the valuable fleet were saved from falling
into the hands of the enemy, as must inevitably have been
the case had he pursued his intention, for Mr. Suffren after
his return from Cuddalore continued cruising between the
southernmost point of Ceylon and northern extremity of
that island.

The same afternoon that the India fleet thus arrived the
Sceptre, Captain Alms, came into the Roads, bringing with
him the Naiade French frigate, then under the temporary
command of Monsieur Joyeuze. The Sceptre, being some
miles to the eastward of the fleet coming round from Bombay,
discovered from her masthead a strange sail which evidently
endeavoured to avoid him. He therefore communicated
this to the Admiral by signal, asking permission to chase,
which was granted, but with an order not to lose sight of his
own fleet. Captain Alms, however, finding he gained upon
the ship he was in pursuit of, ventured to trespass upon the
order he had received by continuing the chase. In six-and-
thirty hours he came up with and captured her. Sir Edward
Hughes was, notwithstanding Captain Alms had effected his
object, very angry, at first threatening a court martial, but
Captain Alms being a favourite, and a man of consummate
skill and abilities in his profession, the infringement of
strict discipline was overlooked.

CHAPTER IX

LIFE IN MADRAS (continued)

ON the 5th I had the pleasure to meet my ci-devant
Trincomalay acquaintance, Captain Joyeuze, at Lord
Macartney's. He appeared dejected and low-spirited at
the " Fortune de Guerre," observing to me that through life
he had been an unlucky dog whom the fickle dame was
perpetually at war with and pelting him in every direction.
Soon after his arrival at Madras he informed me that Lord
Macartney had just agreed to an exchange of prisoners, and
a cartel would in a few days depart for Trincomalay, by
which opportunity I might forward anything I pleased to
that place. I thereupon directed my Dubash to procure
for me a variety of different articles as presents for Mrs.
Vansenden, Captain Gautier, Mr. Chevillard, the Chevalier
De Salvert and others.

While sitting in Mr. Popham's hall with Mrs. Hickey and
the invalid Captain Humphreys, a servant came into the
room to tell me a boy who looked like a sailor was below stairs
and wished to see me. Conceiving it to be some beggar, I
desired the man to go and ask him what his business was
and his name. The man replied he had already done that,
but the boy would not tell what he was nor his name, merely
saying I knew him perfectly well. I then desired he might
be shewn up. The servant again returned, saying the boy
declined coming and was desirous of speaking to me below.
I therefore went down, when I saw a plain-looking lad,
apparently about fourteen years of age, with whoseiace and
person I was totally unacquainted. He looked excessively
shabby and dirty, being in an old blue jacket, very coarse
trousers, without stockings, and instead of shoes a nearly

119

120 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM RICKEY

worn out pair of slippers. I immediately asked him who
he was, to which he answered, " George Byng." Greatly
surprized at his uncouth appearance, I took him into Mr.
Popham's office, where, enquiring the reason of his being in
such miserable trim and without shoes, he, with a piteous
countenance, said he could not get clothes for want of
money, the Admiral, into whose charge he had been given
by his father and mother, positively refusing to supply him
with cash, at a time, too, when he had not a pair of shoes
to put on.

Somewhat incredulous upon hearing so improbable a
story, I observed, if such was the case, I was afraid there
must be some powerful motive to induce Sir Edward Hughes
to refuse all assistance, to which the youth answered he knew
of none except that the Admiral complained of his extrava-
gance at Bombay. " And was that complaint well founded?"
I asked. " Oh dear, no," said he quickly. " I got nothing
there but what I was absolutely in want of, and could not
do without, as everybody in the ship knows." " Well, my
dear George," said I, " although your present call upon me
comes at rather an unlucky time from Mrs. Hie key and my
having lost everything we brought out from Europe, and
having been obliged to reclothe ourselves at a great expence,
to do which I was under the necessity of borrowing money
at an interest of twelve per cent per annum, nevertheless I
must contrive to relieve you from your difficulties, so sit
down at this table and calculate what the things you are in
want of will cost, and I will furnish you with the amount."
Then placing pen, ink and paper I left him, saying I would
return in a quarter of an hour, at the end of which time I
did so, and he told me he could make shift with fifty
pagodas ! I accordingly gave him that sum, after which I
took him upstairs and introduced him to Mrs. Hie key, who
filled his belly with an excellent breakfast . He then marched
off in high spirits. His back was scarcely turned when
Mr. Norris called to pay us a visit.

After paying his compliments to Mrs . Hie key and chatting
with her for some time Mr. Norris observed to me that he

TRICKED BY A BOY 121

had just met my young pickle friend, George Byng, in a
most extraordinary condition, nor could he make him
explain the reason. He (Norris) then told him it was lucky
for him that a friend met him in such a masquerade dress
who would not peach, for were the Admiral to hear of it he
would be in a pretty scrape. I thereupon smoked my young
gentleman and could not suppress a smile, which Mr. Norris
observing, exclaimed, " Why, surely the young rascal has
not been here ? Saucy as he is, I scarcely think he has
impudence enough to appear before Mrs. Hie key and you
in such a trim as I saw him, and without shoes ! " !< Why,
what could the poor boy do ? " said I. "He has no shoes
nor the means of purchasing any, as I understand." " Oh,
the little villain ! I see the trick he has been playing. There
is not a midshipman in the Superb, I believe I might safely
say in the whole fleet, that is so abundantly stocked with
clothes of every kind as he is. As to money, perhaps he
may be short, for he was so profuse while living on shore
at Bombay that the Admiral was exceedingly angry, and
has since supplied him very sparingly. I hope the rogue has
not hummed you out of any cash." I answered, " Not much
— a trifle." " Upon my word," said Norris, " this is too
bad, I certainly shall acquaint the Admiral of his conduct."
I entreated that he would not, but really believe I should
not have succeeded. Upon Mrs. Hickey's joining in the
request, however, he promised to keep the secret and not
betray him. From that day I never set eyes upon George
Byng until about four years ago, when I found him in the
command of a line of battleship, the Belliqueux.

On the morning of the 6th Mr. Popham and I went to
the Government House to breakfast with Lord Macartney,
where I was introduced to his chief and confidential secre-
tary, Sir George Staunton, who told me he was well known
to all my family and made many kind enquiries after my
father and eldest sister, as likewise did another gentleman
present, who was a stranger to me. I found this was Mr.
Lascelles, who held a lucrative situation under the Governor
and was in his suite. There was at breakfast the same

122 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

morning several of the commanders of His Majesty's ships
and some captains of East Indiamen, among the latter
Captain Rattray of the Duke of Aihol.

The breakfast being finished, the company were talking
of the dreadful consequences of the late famine when a
report of a gun, as it was supposed to be, drew the general
attention, Lord Macartney saying it appeared to him more
like an explosion than a gun. The whole party rose, and
going to the windows that looked towards the sea saw a
prodigious column of smoke ascending from the midst of
the fleet . Sir Richard Bickerton, who was present, expressed
his fears that it was a ship blown up, whereupon Captain
Rattray exclaimed, " Not a doubt but it is, and equally
certain that it is my ship." This proved too true ; it was
the Duke of Aihol! She had by some accident taken fire,
the first intimation of which was the flames bursting from
between decks. Signals of distress being made in conse-
quence, a boat full of men with an officer was instantly dis-
patched from every ship to her assistance. As she lay in
the centre of the fleet the boats reached her in a few minutes,
one of the earliest on board being the Superb* s, with her
first lieutenant in it, a very active and zealous old officer.
This most unfortunate man lost his life in the Duke of Aihol
whilst exerting himself in endeavours to extinguish the
flames, he and three other lieutenants belonging to different
ships being blown up.

The explosion taking place within twenty minutes after
the fire was first discovered occasioned dreadful havoc,
almost all the boats that went to her assistance having
reached her. For several days after the accident bodies
were constantly driven on shore, sadly disfigured and
mutilated ; spectacles shocking to behold. They were all
decently interred. It never was ascertained from what
cause the fatal accident arose, though rumoured that it
originated in the carelessness of the steward who, whilst
in the lazaretto drawing off spirits from a cask, suffered
his candle to communicate thereto, but this was only
conjecture from the rapidity and violence of the flames

PREPARING TO REACH CALCUTTA 123

and her blowing up in so short a time after the fire broke
out.

The 8th and 9th were spent at Mr. and Mrs. Barclay's,
when they made us promise to go and reside with them
entirely the following week.

About the middle of the month I received a letter from
Captain Joyeuze, who although he wrote and spoke English
exceedingly well, was always backward in doing either ; he
therefore addressed me in his own language and, according
to my translation, to the following effect :

" SIB,

The clerk and surgeon of my late ship leaving this place
to-day for Cuddalore, will with pleasure take charge of the
parcel you sent me for the purpose of forwarding. I could not
find out the house in the country at which you reside, and it was
only just now that your Dubash announced to me that Mrs.
Hickey is at Mrs. Barclay's, in the neighbourhood of whose
mansion I spend most of my time, I mean at General Burgoyne's,
who has shown me the greatest kindness. I hope, sir, to have the
gratification of seeing you at home this evening, for I will not
let another day pass away without paying my respects to our
fair and amiable prisoner, and assuring her and yourself of the
sentiments of esteem with which I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your most devoted and humble servant,

DE JOYEUZE."

We were so hospitably received by the inhabitants of
Madras, and so many entertainments were made for us, that
Mrs. Hickey could not accomplish her visit to Mrs. Barclay
until the 30th, on which day we went out to her country
house to stay, but I daily went to town, not only to call
upon my numerous friends, but to make enquiries relative
to the means of getting on to my ultimate destination,
Calcutta, with which same object I occasionally visited my
naval acquaintances, not omitting the Admiral,' who was
always attentive and polite, assuring me he was not un-
mindful of me, and that if he should have occasion to send
any ship to Bengal I certainly should have a passage.

124 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

Whilst residing with Mr. and Mrs. Barclay I had the
pleasure to hear from my respected and highly valued
friends, Captain Gautier and the Chevalier De Salvert.
Captain Gautier 's letter was as follows, and in English :

" TBINCOMALAY,

21st April, 1783.

" MY DEAREST SIB,

Your kind letter dated from Cudalour I received in due
time. It gave me a great deal of satisfaction in informing me
of your both good health and happy arrival in India without
further misfortune. I do assure you that in every time I will
receive your letters with the greatest pleasure. I would have
wrote to you by Mr. Kemp's way had I not thought that Mr.
Barretto's departure would allow me very nearly that first
opportunity. You will find enclosed here your draft for the
little sum which I have lent you at Trincomalay. As you know
very perfectly my way of thinking upon the matter, I hope that
you will act according to it, and that were you not in a position
fit for sending me the goods which I desire, you will write me
it without the least hesitation. I think that I have some right
to inspire you with an unreserved trust in pecuniary affairs.

As Mr. Barretto tells me that he certainly will come again
here, I lay hold of this opportunity, which I find very sure, to
receive from you (if possible) three shawl handkerchiefs, from
sixty to eighty rupees each ; three dozen of tolerably fine and
trimmed shirts for my own use ; three or four pieces of linen
cloth fit for making breeches and vests, and four pieces of fine
bordered handkerchiefs. The last article and the shawls are
to be carried along with me into France to make gifts of to
some considerable ladies, but I pray you to expend for these
things but a sum like that which you have received from me,
and to diminish the quantity according to the means. I do
repeat and assure you, dear sir, with the sincerity of my heart
that you can use in this circumstance as freely as if you had not
received this letter, because you know well that I have not
obliged you to be inconvenient to you in any case whatever.

I am very glad for your happiness about your sudden departure
for Bengal in a Prussian ship. I am glad likewise that your
trinkets have been delivered up to you. You will find here the
addition of the sum that I have paid to the watchmaker. He

LETTERS FROM TRINCOMALAY 125

has assured me that you had promised him ten dollars for the
reparation. I hope that you are both now well settled in Bengal.
I desire my best compliments and respects to the cheerful and
amiable Mrs. Hickey. Messieurs De Sal vert, Cuverville, Mevillard,
Ritcherie, Beddel, etc., pray me to remember them to her. All
they, with Mr. Adhemar, Langlade, Malle, and I, are very thank-
ful for her kind remembrance. I particularly congratulate myself
to have made an acquaintance with you both. Here are en-
closed the patterns which I forgot to send to Mrs. Hickey. With
the sentiments of a true friendship,

I remain, dear sir,
Your most humble and obedient servant,

GAUTIER."

" Did not Barretto come here again I think that you can send
me the goods which I ask to you by the way of Tranquebar.

I pray you, Dear Sir, to present my complimens to all
French officers prisoners in Bengal whom I am acquainted with,
and I believe that every one is in the case. We every day
expect the news of peace, or, at least, an exchange between
prisoners. I wish the last article for the good of humanity."

Mr. De Salvert's letter was addressed to Mrs. Hickey.
This gentleman, shortly after we became intimate, was in
the habit of calling my Charlotte his chere soeur. His letter,
also in English, was as follows :

" On board the Flamand,
TRINCOMALAY,

9th April, 1783.
" DEAR MADAM,

Captain Gautier shew me the polite letter he received
some days ago from Mr. Hickey, and it was with the utmost
pleasure I saw my name reminded in a very kind manner. I
will never forget the pleasant hours I spent in your company,
but, my dear madam, how short have been that happy moments,
and how slowly passes now the tedious glass of a tiresome life.
Since you left Oostenburgh I went but once to Mr. Chevillard's
house, and I found it so unlike, so empty, it appeared to me no
more as a Temple favoured with the presence of the Goddess
we revered in it. Your behaviour when at Trinquemalay was
so prudent, your mien so obliging, your conversation so polite,

126 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

that you left behind you the regrets in every heart, and esteem
in every feeling breast.

The Captain Wolseley is gone to Mauritias some days ago,
and begged of me to be remembered to you. All the officers
on board the Flamand request of me the same favour. Their
Captain was extremely sorry that he had in his power so few
means to be serviceable both to you and your amiable consort.

I hope that my beloved sister, though hurried from pleasures
to pleasures, surrounded with all the enjoyments of life, and of
the gifts of nature, will cast behind her some kind remembrance
on the most loving and affectionate brother. I can receive by
the way of Tranquebar, and under the cover of Monsieur Guig-
nace, the letters I hope you will favour me with. My best
compliments to Mr. Hickey. He must be very pleased to be at
the end of his tedious voyage. My wishes to Heaven for success,
health, and happiness in all the circumstances of your connubial
life. I have the honour to be for ever, my dear madam,
Your most obedient servant and good brother,

CHR. DE SALVERT."

In a conversation I had with Captain Joyeuze he told me
that the Pendant and Cleopatra could undoubtedly have
captured the Medea had they continued the pursuit of her
three hours longer, but which the senior officer did not think
himself justified in doing, Admiral Suffren's orders being
peremptory that they should not upon any pretence what-
ever stand more than fifteen leagues to the northward of
Madras, then stretch over to the eastward twelve leagues,
and again to the southward, to the latitude of fourteen
degrees and a half, and thus to continue during the cruise,
or until they accomplished their object, the principal one
being to intercept two rich ships from Bengal with money
and stores, of the departure of which two ships from Cal-
cutta they had correct information. They were further
directed to spread the squadron so as to extend over a space
of ten leagues. Another of the French commander's views
was to take the chance of falling in with the outward English
East Indiamen, a fleet of which we also knew were daily
expected in the Eastern seas. Certainly therefore the escape
of the whole was particularly lucky.

MR. POPHAM'S DEBT TO DICKY ROBERTS 127

At Madras I heard much of my friend Bob Pott, who,
with his lovely favourite, Emily, had made a considerable
stay there. The men universally declared they had never
beheld so beautiful a creature as Emily, and even the women
admitted her extraordinary beauty of face and person. I
also learnt that she died immediately upon her arrival in
Bengal.

Upon examining the wreck of the contents of the escritoire
I had with me on board the Rayriha de Portugal I found a
letter which the salt water had not entirely effaced the
direction of, and it brought to my recollection the manner
in which it came into my possession. Shortly previous to
my leaving London I called upon my old Westminster
acquaintance, Dicky Roberts, the boat builder at Lambeth,
who, understanding I meant shortly to return to India,
requested I would endeavour to procure for him payment
of a debt of many years' standing from Mr. Stephen Popham
for boats built by his order, and forwarded to him at his
estate in Ireland, where he had put them on a large canal in
his park. Popham was educated at Westminster School,
like the rest of the boys hiring boats from Roberts to row
and sail about the Thames during the hours of play. Upon
reaching manhood and getting into possession of his estate
he, like many other old Westminsters, employed Roberts
to build the boats in question, which being done Roberts
shipped them for the sister kingdom, paying freight and all
expences. Mr. Popham wrote to express his approbation,
saying they were exactly what he wanted, but there he
stopped, never paying a single guinea or answering any of
the various applications made by Roberts during a period
of fifteen years. The amount was forty-six pounds. To
demand payment of this sum with interest was the purport
of Roberts' letter conveyed by my hand. Upon my de-
livering the same to Mr. Popham, he perused it with the
utmost indifference, remarking when he had done what an
unlucky fellow he was that this letter should be one of the
very few preserved from the destructive fury of the elements.
Offended at the cool levity of his manner, I resentfully and

128 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

in some degree contemptuously observed that I should have
thought it would, as it undoubtedly ought, have rather been
a matter of joy than of concern to him to be reminded of a
debt of so long standing, contracted too, as that had been,
and thereby putting it in his power to do justice to an
honest, industrious and hard-working man. To which
observation of mine, although he appeared nettled by it, he
with affected unconcern said, " Oh certainly, my dear
Hickey, I cannot but be pleased with so agreeable a com-
munication, but I really think, indeed, I am quite sure, that
I paid the extravagant demand for these boats at the time
of their delivery. I will, however, look over my accounts,
and if I find I am mistaken, and that it is still due, I will
immediately remit the amount to master Dicky." Not-
withstanding the above pretence the unprincipled man knew
perfectly well he never had paid a sixpence, nor had he the
least intention ever to pay. He died, as he lived, poor
Roberts 's debtor.

Early in the month of May the Bengal detachment, and
some additional regiments from the coast, prepared to march
from Madras to join the army destined to make an attack
upon Cuddalore, which in due time they did, and had a deal
of exceedingly hard fighting. In one of the assaults upon the
outworks His Majesty's 101st Regiment of infantry were so
dreadfully cut up that the few survivors gave way and ran
for it, from which circumstance they were by some ill-
naturedly stigmatised with the title of the " Hundred and
worst" meaning a miserable pun upon " first." I say ill-
naturedly, because unprejudiced men pronounced the odium
unmerited. In the above regiment one of the very few
officers that escaped unhurt was Mr. Thomas, grandson to
an intimate friend of my father's, a respectable clergyman
in Ireland, whom I used, when a boy, to endeavour to rouse
from a lethargic stupor by pulling his wig off and playing
other monkey tricks. In the above-mentioned attack upon
the fortress of Cuddalore the Bengal Sepoys by their gallant
conduct acquired immortal honour.

CHAPTER X

FROM MADRAS TO CALCUTTA

ON the 20th I received a very polite note from Mr. Robson,
purser of the Superb ,to say the Admiral had directed him
to inform me that the Tortoise store ship would be dispatched
for Bengal, and that he had requested Captain Serocold,
who commanded her, to give Mrs. Hie key and me a passage.
I thereupon immediately went to town, where I had only
been a few minutes when Mr. Robson brought Captain
Serocold, who in the kindest manner expressed the pleasure
it would afford him to comply with the Admiral's wishes ;
that the Tortoise's great cabin, with everything on board,
would be heartily at my service, and he should feel proud
of the honour of Mrs. Hickey's company. He told me he
expected to sail in five days, and should only have one other
passenger, Mr. Henry Thomas Colebrooke, third son of Sir
George Colebrooke, and who was just appointed to the
Company's civil service.

The 21st we spent at Mr. Porcher's, where we had a
pleasant day and merry dance at night. The following day
we were at Mr. Paul Benfield's, where everything appeared
in the first style of magnificence. The 23rd we had a cheerful
party at Colonel Nixon's, and were most kindly received.
He told me, with great glee, that his memorial had succeeded,
Government having admitted his claim by giving him the
rank and allowances of full colonel from the period at which
he stated it to be his right.

This gentleman subsequently became a major-general.
Having accumulated a noble fortune, and seen all his
daughters advantageously married, he about the year 1804

III.— K 129

130 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

or 1805 embarked for England on board the Prince of Wales,
Captain Price, taking with him two of his daughters with
their respective children. The fleet in which this ship was,
sailing without convoy, Captain Price as the senior captain
acted as commodore and directed their proceedings. Off
the Cape of Good Hope they encountered a severe gale of
adverse wind, and were consequently obliged to lay to.
During the height of the storm, in the middle of a dreadfully
dark night, the chief officer of one of the ships, upon being
relieved by the second, pointed out to him the Commodore's
light, observing at the same time the gale was, he thought,
rather increased than abated since his watch commenced,
and as there was a tremendous sea running he had better
try to get a little further from the Prince of Wales, she being
close upon their starboard quarter. The second mate said
he would set the fore -staysail for a few minutes in order
to increase the distance, but before the people could execute
the order a prodigious sea broke on board, carrying a boat
and some of the spars overboard. This mishap engaged
the attention of all hands for near half an hour. Upon the
confusion subsiding the second mate again looked out for
the Commodore's light, and not being able to find it he
desired the other officers and the watch upon deck to try
to discover it, pointing out the direction in which it ought
to be. All eyes were employed, but in vain. She never
more was seen, nor the least trace of her. This was the more
extraordinary from her being in the middle of a large fleet,
and very near several of the ships, yet not a remnant of her
ever appeared. The general opinion was that she must have
been suddenly overwhelmed by the sea and instantly gone
to the bottom. Captain Price had the reputation of being
a perfect seaman.

The 24th I dined at Lord Macartney's, previously leaving
Mrs. Hie key at Lady Gordon's with a gay party. Having
received notice from Captain Serocold that he should depart
the next day but one, the 25th was therefore fully occupied
by taking leave of our numerous friends. Upon my return
home I found the following letter from Mr. Benfield :

ON BOARD THE TORTOISE 131

" MADRAS,

26ft May, 1783.
" DEAR SIR,

Will you allow nie to request your care of the accompany-
ing letters. I beg to offer my best respects to Mrs. Hickey. I
sincerely wish you both a pleasant voyage, and that you will
meet with no more untoward accidents, of which you have
already had more than your share. It will be very flattering to
me if you will let me hear of your arrival.
Believe me, dear sir,

Very affectionately yours,

PAUL BENFIELD."

On the 26th directly after breakfast we were accompanied
down to the beach by Mrs. Barclay, Lady Gordon, Mrs.
Latham, Mrs. Garrow, and other female friends, and quite
a host of gentlemen, who all remained at the seaside until
they saw us over the surfs, when they finally saluted by
waving handkerchiefs and hats to us, and departed. Upon
getting alongside the Tortoise we were politely received by
Captain Serocold, who conducted us into a neat and com-
modious cabin . We found the people heaving up the anchor,
and in an hour after we were on board the ship was under
way.

Captain Serocold was a most pleasing young man, a
lieutenant in the navy, and a prime favourite with Sir
Edward Hughes, who in less than a twelvemonth after the
time I am now speaking of promoted him to the rank of
post -captain, in which station he was employed in a line of
battle ship, on board of which he was killed gallantly fighting
her against two French ships of superior force in the Mediter-
ranean. By his death the navy and the British nation lost
an officer who was an equal honour and ornament to
both.

Our fellow-passenger, Mr. Colebrooke, was a sensible and
well-informed young man. He is now a member of the
Supreme Council in Bengal, which elevated situation he
gained entirely from his abilities, indefatigable attention to

132 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

business, and superior acquirements in Oriental literature.
Upon Sir John Anstruther's leaving India he was chosen to
succeed him as President of the Asiatic Society.

The Tortoise had come out from England under Mr.
Serocold's command with a cargo of naval stores for the
use of the fleet. The Admiral's sole object in sending her
to Calcutta was to procure men, of which most of his ships
were sadly in want, some of them being one hundred and
fifty short of their complement. It may therefore be
imagined we were not overstocked on board the Tortoise,
which was a vessel of three hundred and fifty tons. Our
whole crew consisted of twelve men and two officers, not
being a third of what she ought to have had, but being at a
season when the south-west monsoon was completely set in,
and generally blows fresh, it was supposed we should reach
Calcutta within a week. The Admiral had taken the pre-
caution of writing to the Government of Bengal by the
Dauk, or Post, to say one of his ships would be there by the
1st of June, and therefore desiring a pilot might be in
Balasore Roads ready to take charge. The reason of doing
this was that upon the change of the moon there is often
exceeding bad weather in those seas, and the pilots knowing
that to be the case are not apt to expose themselves to it,
but skulk into creeks and narrow rivers for shelter.

We had a tolerable passage from Madras, arriving in
Balasore Roads on the 2nd of June, on which day there was
a new moon, and we had the mortification to find there was
no pilot. As the weather appeared unsettled and the clouds
looked wild, after cruising about almost the whole day,
Captain Serocold considered it prudent to come to an anchor,
which we accordingly did in twenty fathoms of water. A
heavy sea running, and the ship being light, we rolled and
tumbled about dreadfully. The India Directory (a very
valuable and excellent work) advises all commanders of
ships who reach the Roads at any time between the new
and full moon of June, and do not find a pilot there, by no
means to come to an anchor but stand out to sea. Captain
Serocold, however, being in hourly expectation of seeing a

WANTING A PILOT 133

pilot schooner, deemed it more prudent to remain in the
usual track of them.

The 3rd and 4th it blew fresh with a high, short and
breaking sea. Every person on board became impatient
and uneasy under this unexpected and disagreeable deten-
tion in so wild and dangerous a sea. In the evening of the
4th an old Bengallee Serang, who had begged a passage
from Madras, said he had often taken his own vessel of
about sixty tons over the sands, being well acquainted with
the channel from long experience, and that he was ready
and willing to go in a boat to see for a pilot. Captain
Serocold asked him if he could not conduct the ship in, to
which he modestly replied that although he thought he
could it might be considered presumptuous in him to
attempt it, and the ship being of much consequence even
his alarms on that account might lead him into error, and
he would not upon any account attempt it short of indis-
pensable necessity. Captain Serocold, after considering
what would be best, resolved to dispatch this man in a
boat. He accordingly had the longboat rigged, put his
boatswain and four of the men into her, desiring them to
follow implicitly the directions of the Serang, and dis-
patched them with the flood tide, the Serang saying he hoped
to be back the following morning with a pilot.

The 5th the weather was dark and squalty. In the morn-
ing a large ship from sea passed us. Captain Serocold made
the signal to speak her, which she either did not see or did
not understand. After running about four miles further in
than we were she came to an anchor. We had fired a gun
every half-hour during the nights from the time we had
anchored. This night the newly arrived ship did the same.

The 6th and 7th there was a great deal of rain ; at times
most severe gusts of wind with dreadful thunder and
lightning and a high sea, then suddenly falling quite calm
for a few minutes ; a dismally black, threatening sky all
round. Captain Serocold became extremely uneasy, not
only on account of his ship, but for the safety of the people
sent off in the longboat.

134 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

The 8th the strange sail was observed to fire several guns
in quick succession, and Captain Serocold looking through
his glass thought she had a signal of distress flying, though
from her distance and the thickness of the weather he was
not able to ascertain with certainty whether such was the
case, but as she continued firing guns he said he would
make an effort to get nearer to her if he could manage to
weigh the anchor. Every soul on board, passengers and all,
turned to at the capstan and hove with hearty good- will,
but in vain. We could not stir the anchor in the least and
were obliged to desist.

After dinner, the tide not running so strong, another
attempt was made, but equally unsuccessful. Captain
Serocold then determined to slip his cabJe, leaving a buoy
over the anchor to point out its situation, which having done
we ran within a mile of her, when Captain Serocold observed
she must be upon the very edge of a sand over which the sea
broke dreadfully, and being directly leeward with a strong
gale blowing he was afraid to venture any nearer. He
therefore let go the sheet anchor, when we perceived the
ship to be an East Indiaman, and in an extremely awkward
situation, for had she driven one hundred yards her loss
must have been inevitable. She made many signals to us
for assistance, which it was out of our power to render, nor
could any boat possibly get from her to us, from the set of
the tides and point the wind was in.

In this truly unpleasant way we remained until the 10th,
when, the wind shifting to the northward during a severe
squall, our companion in distress got under way and stood
close to us. Captain Serocold then hailed, mentioning the
helpless situation we were in with respect to hands, and
requesting they would send twenty hands to assist in weigh-
ing our anchor, and that we should keep together until we
fell in with a pilot. They immediately hoisted out a boat,
sending her ofi with the people required. The third mate
who accompanied them told us it was the Company's ship
Chesterfield, commanded by Captain Bruce Boswell, last
from Bombay. He also informed us she was so leaky as to

AN ANXIOUS TIME 135

keep two pumps constantly at work night and day, that
they had only twenty-five Europeans on board, including
officers, all the rest being Lascars, who are miserable
wretches at best, and who were nearly worn out with the
fatigue of pumping. Captain Boswell therefore hoped we
would detain his men as little time as possible. We found
the Chesterfield upon coming in, not reckoning themselves
so far on as they proved to be, had stood too near the tail
of a dangerous sand called the Western Brace, and being
high water when they brought to, as the tide ebbed they
had the disagreeable view of breakers within a quarter of a
mile of them, with a fresh wind blowing dead upon them,
so that they dared not attempt to move from an appre-
hension she might strike in getting under way, and had
she once touched the ground it would have been all over
with them.

The Chesterfield people having soon accomplished the
business they came upon, returned to their ship, when we
both made sail, going in search of the best bower from
which we had slipped, but after cruising about three hours
without being able to find the buoy, we were under the neces-
sity of giving up the hopes of recovering it. We then stood
more to the eastward together, anxiously looking out for
a pilot. As we now gave up the longboat's crew for lost,
it was some consolation to us to have the Chesterfield near.
Our situation certainly was very alarming, being in constant
dread of bad weather from the season, the critical time of
the moon and threatening appearance of the sky all round.

Two more days we had to endure this scene of constant
anxiety and suspense, but at daylight in the morning of the
1 3th had the satisfaction to see a pilot schooner approaching,
and as she neared us Captain Serocold afforded us inexpres-
sible pleasure by saying he saw his boatswain and people
on board of her. At ten o'clock a pilot came to the Tortoise
and took charge, one of his mates at the same time going
to the Chesterfield.

Captain Serocold, although a remarkably mild, good-
tempered man, was so offended at the shameful negligence

136 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

he had experienced that I really thought he would have
flogged the pilot, especially when the rascal impudently
observed it was unreasonable to expect small vessels could
cruise in the Roads during such tempestuous weather.
Captain Serocold, however, commanded himself so far as
not to strike him, but assured him he would represent the
matter to the Admiral, which would cause him to be
dismissed the service.

The boatswain said the old Serang had taken the longboat
up in a capital style, most correctly telling the depth of
water there would be all the way ; that not finding any
pilot off Ingelee, nor in the creek, into which they looked,
they proceeded up the river, stopping at every place they
thought it likely to hear of one, but none were to be met
with, and thus they reached Calcutta, where, without losing
a moment, they applied to the Master Attendant, who forth-
with ordered a vessel to be dispatched. Four-and-twenty
hours nevertheless elapsed ere she was ready. Off Fulta,
on their way down the river, they ran her upon a dangerous
sand called the James and Mary, where she lay aground
two entire days and nights in the most imminent risk of
oversetting every tide. The springs having commenced,
the afternoon of the llth she fortunately righted and once
more got afloat. So careless or so ignorant were the people
on board that she again grounded a few miles below Ked-
geree, remaining fast for six hours.

Captain Serocold upon hearing so extraordinary an
account of the pilot's conduct on his way down, sent for him
upon the quarter-deck, and calling for the boatswain he
directed that officer to have a rope reeved to the main-yard-
arm with a running noose, which being immediately done,
he turned to the pilot and said, " You have already, in my
opinion, proved yourself a very worthless scoundrel. You
see that rope that I just ordered to be rigged out, now by
God ! if you run my ship on shore between this and Culpee
the instant she takes the ground shall be the last of your
life, for I'll certainly hang you at that yardarm ! " The
fellow looked very simple, and after a pause said, " I hope,

" POTT'S FOLLY ' 137

sir, there is no danger of any accidents happening ; I shall
take all the care in my power to prevent it."

At noon we got under way to go once more in search of
the anchor and cable we had slipped from, and the buoy
was soon discovered by the people of the pilot vessel from
the Captain's describing the direction of the courses steered,
and when the anchor and cable were recovered we directly
stood for the mouth of the Hooghley River in company with
the Chesterfield, the sky continuing very black and lowering.
At five in the afternoon it fell quite calm, torrents of rain
pouring down upon us, and in the night we had much
thunder and lightning. The whole of the 14th it continued
calm, which kept us fast at anchor. The 15th we proceeded
about twelve miles ; the 16th, 17th and 18th it blew strong
from the north-west, we could not therefore stir, all the
time pitching, forecastle under ; almost incessant rain. In
the afternoon of the 19th the weather cleared up, and the
wind veering round to the southward, we got under way ; at
sunset saw the land near Ingelee. On the 21st came to an
anchor off Culpee (the place I passed a wretched night at
on my first arrival at Bengal in the year 1777 with Colonel
Watson, chief engineer).

In approaching this dreary spot I observed in the midst
of the jungle a beautiful column, apparently of stone. En-
quiring what this could be in so desolate and wild a place
I was informed the seafaring people had christened it
" Pott's folly," though it ultimately proved of public
utility, being of considerable advantage to the pilots when
bringing ships in from sea, from its being a conspicuous
landmark, always visible when no other object was so in
blowing weather. I shall say something more of this
column presently.

There being no means of getting Mrs. Hie key away, we
were under the disagreeable necessity of remaining in the
abominable hole three days, at the end of which time, by
bribing high, I prevailed upon the mangee of a pinnace I
found laying in the creek, waiting the arrival of a gentleman
hourly expected from Vizagapatam, to convey us up the

138 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

river as far as Budge Budge, where my old Sea Horse ship-
mate, Major Mestayer, commanded, who I knew would give
us a hearty welcome, as well as furnish the means of taking
us on to Calcutta. We arrived at his quarters, an excellent
and spacious house within the fort, on the 26th, where we
experienced the most cordial reception.

The following morning he dispatched a servant with a
letter from me to Robert Pott (to whom I had also written
during my stay at Madras requesting he would take a house,
hire a set of servants, etc.) to ascertain whether he had done
anything for me. On the 28th, in consequence of my letter,
he made his appearance in person, having come down in a
beautiful and elegantly appointed boat of his own construc-
tion and building.

As I had in my letter from Madras informed him of the
companion I had with me, and the footing she was upon,
notwithstanding my repeated offers to make her my wife,
he was prepared to receive her as an utter stranger, and in
spite of his disposition at all times to laugh, and his having
been well acquainted with her in England, he conducted
himself with the utmost propriety and decorum. He with
great ceremony told her he rejoiced much at the introduc-
tion, bespeaking infinite pleasure in the acquaintance, adding
that he had comfortable apartments, with everything suit-
able, prepared for us at his country house, to which he was
ready immediately to escort us, but Major Mestayer would
not hear of our leaving him until the 30th, on which morning
soon after breakfast we embarked in the before -mentioned
splendid vessel, which in three hours transported us to
Pott's residence, a noble mansion situated upon the bank
of the river, five miles from Calcutta, the property of Mr.
Stephenson, a gentleman at the top of the Civil Service.
Here we landed on the said 30th of June, 1783, thus ter-
minating as disastrous a voyage as ever unfortunate people
made, of exactly eighteen months from the day I left London.

I found Pott's family consisted of himself, his first cousin,
George Cruttenden, who came out with him as a cadet, and
Mr. Thomas Trant, a cadet for Madras, likewise a shipmate.

BOB POTT AND HIS LOSS OF EMILY 139

This gentleman, who was about thirty years of age, had
been brought up in a merchant's comting-house in Ireland,
and was conversant in all matters of business and account.
During the voyage Pott persuaded him to relinquish the
army and to depend upon him for his future success in life.
Upon their arrival in Bengal he employed him as a sort of
general steward, giving him the entire management and
control over all his servants and domestic concerns.

Mr. Trant informed me that Pott had at first suffered
severely at the sudden and unexpected loss of his favourite
Emily, but that the violence of his grief was not of long
duration. At the time of my arrival in Bengal he certainly
appeared to be in excellent health and high spirits. From
Mr. Trant I also heard the following particulars of her death.
Pott and she sailed from Madras in the month of May (1782)
on board a ship belonging to, and commanded by, Mr. John
Maclary, a very respectable and worthy man, Emily then
being in perfect health. She was, however, greatly annoyed
by what is called the prickly heat, a sort of rash or eruption
upon the skin very prevalent in hot countries, especially in
Asia. It is attended with a sharp pricking pain like the point
of pins penetrating the body in every part, so that it is
difficult to lay down in bed. It is, however, considered a
sign of vigorous health. New-comers are more subject to
it than old residents, arising, as is supposed, from the
superior richness or nicer susceptibility of the blood and
general system. Drinking anything cold instantaneously
greatly increases it. Emily, impatient under the torture of
this teazing complaint , and with an insatiable thirst upon her,
had frequent recourse to draughts of extremely cold water
(made so by art) mixed with milk. The ship they were on
board of was to go quite up to Calcutta. Just as they were
off Culpee Emily, in quick succession, drank two large
tumblers of the above-mentioned mixture, the last of which
was scarcely down her throat when she complained of 'feeling
excessively faint and ill, that her sight was failing as she
could not distinguish any object before her. The prickly
heat was observed suddenly and entirely to disappear. She

140 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

fell back upon the couch she was sitting on and in a few
minutes was a corpse. So rapid and so unexpected a proof
of the uncertainty of life gave a great shock to every person
on board, more especially to poor Pott, who was incon-
solable and outrageous in his grief. For several hours he
would not be persuaded she ceased to exist. He, however,
but too soon had unanswerable evidence such was the fact
from the body's becoming black and putrid, emitting the
most offensive smell. A coffin therefore being prepared,
with the utmost dispatch, the corpse was finally enclosed
therein, placed in a boat astern of the vessel, with a very
long painter or headfast, and thus was towed up to Calcutta,
where it was interred in the burial-ground of the town.
Pott caused a magnificent mausoleum to be constructed
over the grave by Mr. Tiretta, the Italian architect, alias
" Nosey Jargon." of whom I have already spoken, at an
expence of near three thousand pounds, and not content
with paying this compliment to her remains he employed
the same Tiretta to build the column I before mentioned,
amongst herds of tigers at Culpee, because off that wild,
jungly place she breathed her last, which column cost him
another thousand pounds.

CHAPTER XI

GETTING BACK TO WORK

ON the 1st of July my former Banyan Durgachuru Muc-
ker jee came to pay his respects to me and express his sur-
prize and concern at my returning without being appointed
to the Company's civil service, a situation he did not seem
disposed to believe so difficult to procure as in fact it was.
He had provided a smart palankeen for me, likewise a com-
plete set of bearers to carry it, besides various other neces-
sary servants. The same morning Mr. Stackhouse Tolfrey
and several other of my former acquaintances came to visit
me. Tolfrey gave me the mortifying intelligence of my
name having been struck off the Roll, so that I was no longer
an attorney of the Supreme Court. The chief justice, Sir
Elijah Impey, upon the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Pawson in
a Portuguese ship, having heard that I was at Lisbon on
my way back to India, he forthwith caused written notices
to be stuck up at all the customary places in Calcutta
requiring all and every attorney who had suffered twelve
months to elapse without doing any business in the line of
their profession, within fourteen days from the date of such
notice, to appear in court and there assign their reason for
not practising, and in case of any attorneys not complying
with that order and accounting satisfactorily for his ceasing
to practise, their or his names or name would directly be
struck off the Roll.

This extraordinary measure was evidently levelled at me
in revenge for my having been instrumental in forwarding
the petition to Parliament soliciting for trial by jury in all
civil as well as criminal cases, the prayer of which petition
had the legislature complied with to the extent demanded

141

142 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

would materially have abridged the power and consequently
the influence of the judges. That Sir Elijah suffered private
pique against me to affect his conduct there could be no
doubt, no other attorney being in a similar predicament
with myself, that is to say having been a year without prac-
tising his profession. At the time the said notices were
published I was at Trincomalay, a prisoner with the French,
quite ignorant of any such step having been taken. The
fourteen days having passed and I not appearing, my name
was thereupon erased from the Roll by the Clerk of the
Crown under the direction of the judges.

As I considered this step a premeditated piece of malice,
and had no doubt of the same sentiment being adhered to,
I resolved at least to let the proud Chief Justice know what
were my sentiments upon the occasion. I accordingly
addressed a letter to him wherein I, in most unqualified
language, reprobated such illiberal behaviour as he had
betrayed, concluding by expressing the most sovereign
contempt for this great luminary of the law. This letter I
read to Pott, who said it certainly was ill-calculated to
conciliate, but nevertheless he had so high an opinion of
the goodness of the Chief Justice's heart and of his (Pott's)
influence over him that he would himself undertake the
delivery of the hostile letter, adding at the same time that
he would wig the lawyer for the farce of fourteen days'
notice for a man to appear who, for aught he knew to the
contrary, might be some thousands of miles distant.

At dinner I found a large party, amongst whom was
Ulysses Browne, the ci-devant Horse Guards man for whom
I had obtained a passage to India in Bob Pott's ship. He
was just recovering from a dangerous illness, which had so
altered and reduced him that except from the voice I should
not have recognised him. During dinner another old friend
of mine, Mr. Thomas Evans, who happened to be seated
next to Browne, recommended some malt liquor he was
drinking as remarkably fine and small. The last word
catching Pott's ear, he directly said that the smallness would
be no recommendation to Browne. Browne, taking up the

RESTORED TO THE ROLL OP ATTORNIES 143

remark, agreed that it was not, continuing, " I have some-
times heard the master of the house in which I have been
a guest declare he had the best small beer that ever was
brought to India. Upon my asking was that really the case,
and being answered, ' Yes, it is really very small,' I decline
tasting it ; on the other hand, when my host has replied to
my question by saying, ' I bought it as small beer but
really think it far otherwise,' I directly call for a tumbler
of it, candidly admitting that I like strong and detest small
beer." I own I am very much of Browne's way of thinking
as to malt liquor.

The following morning Pott presented me with a letter,
the contents of which very much surprized me. It was, as
my friend told me when he delivered it, from Sir Elijah
Impey, whom he described as being in a damnable rage
when first perusing mine to him, but that he soon laughed
him into better temper. It was as follows :

" To Mr. Hickey.

" Sm,

The Court some time since, on the petition of the prac-
tising Attornies, stating the decline of the business of the Court,
thought proper to limit their number. To ascertain the number
proposed and that it might not be prevented from being full
by the names of persons standing on the record who had no
further thoughts of practising, the Court framed the rule under
which, as I suppose, your name was struck out, the Court
esteeming absence for a long time without any cause for it
known to the Court to be evidence of having no further thoughts
of practising. You will see by this that what has happened to
you could not proceed from any idea of your having given any
cause for dismission, but of your having voluntarily relinquished
your profession. As that was not your case, and, on the con-
trary, you have returned with an intention to prosecute it, and
more especially as you could have no knowledge of the rule
until your arrival, I should esteem it severe and I may say
unjust not to restore your name to the Roll. I will take on
myself to say you will find no difficulty in it, and if you will
call on me I will recommend to you what I think the proper

144 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

mode of getting it done, as I wish to give you every assistance
in obtaining what I think to be your right.
I am, sir,

Your very humble servant,

E. IMPEY."

In consequence of this advice coming from such high
authority, Pott the following morning conveyed me in his
carriage to Sir Elijah's at the Court House, where, during
my absence in Europe, the Court had been removed to, it
being a noble pile of buildings, close to the edge of the river
at Chaund paul Ghaut, and in which Sir Elijah, with his
family, resided.

Being shewn into the study, the Chief Justice in a few
minutes entered. I rose and bowed, to which salutation he
made a slight return by a doubtful bend of his head, where-
upon my friend Robert, who knew the former habits of
intimacy I had been upon with the great man, burst into
one of his laughs. The Chief, offended thereat, angrily and
haughtily said, " 1 cannot discover any cause for your
boisterous and ill-timed mirth, Pott. Give me leave to ask
what has occasioned it ? " Pott made no answer, but con-
tinuing to laugh violently, Sir Elijah said peevishly, " Unless
you can restrain your unseasonable mirth, sir, and conduct
yourself more decorously you had better leave the room."
Then, turning to me, he said, " I am going into Court
directly ; if you think proper, follow me there, sir." Pott,
taking up his hat, and still laughing, went to the door, from
whence he called out, " Good morning, Sir Elijah. While
you are doing my friend Bill Hie key justice I'll go and chat
with Lady Impey, whom I hope to find in a somewhat
better humour than you are," and he darted away.

I, according to the Chief Justice's advice, followed him
into the Court room. The moment he had taken his seat
upon the bench he addressed the Bar and officers, saying,
" The judges being satisfied with the reasons assigned by
Mr. William Hickey, lately an attorney of the Court, for his
absence, have consented to comply with his desire of being

COLONEL WATSON'S MARRIAGE 145

readmitted. Let the usual oaths therefore be administered,
after which, Mr. Clerk of the Crown, restore his name to the
Roll of Attornies." This being immediately done, I once
more became an Attorney upon Record.

From the Court house I went into Fort William to call
upon my friend Colonel Watson, who had during my absence
become a benedict, having married a Miss Kearman under
somewhat peculiar circumstances. An intimate friend of
his, a Major Burn, who was stationed at one of our most
distant military posts, had been attached to this young
lady previous to leaving Ireland when quite a lad. The
partiality continuing and an intercourse being kept up
between them by letter, upon his attaining the rank of a
Field Officer, having also laid by a considerable sum of
money, he proposed marriage if she would come out to
India, remitting sufficient to equip her as well as to pay the
passage. She lost no time in obeying the summons, taking
out with her a younger sister. They embarked on board one
of the Company's ships, and in the usual time reached Ben-
gal. Major Burn being engaged in the field upon actual
service against the Rohillas, could not leave the army. He
therefore requested his sworn and bosom friend, Colonel
Watson, to receive the sisters and shew them every civility
and attention until the duty he was upon should be finished
and he thereby enabled to go down to the Presidency.
Colonel Watson accordingly sent a young gentleman of his
corps in a large boat down to the ship at Culpee to escort
them up, took them into his house, and in about three months
became so deeply enamoured of the Major's intended as to
render him quite miserable, the lady also returning the
Colonel's passion, increased his struggle.

After much consideration Colonel Watson resolved to
state what had unluckily happened to Major Burn, which
he did with candour, taking upon himself every degree of
blame, concluding that notwithstanding the young lady
positively declared she never would be united to him (Major
Burn), he (Colonel Watson) could not think of marrying her
unless he (Major Burn) consented thereto.

Ill,— L

146 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

To this very extraordinary epistle of Colonel Watson's,
Major Burn, without a moment's hesitation, replied that
Colonel Watson was heartily welcome to the capricious lady,
for as the affection and regard she for several years professed
could not have been sincere, and she now chose openly to
avow it by bestowing her love upon another, he would not
for any consideration upon earth unite himself to so errant
a jilt ; that as the lady appeared willing to release him from
the promise of marriage she had entered into so was he
perfectly ready to waive any former pretensions he might
have had to her hand, and that he certainly could do so
without the least reluctance or feeling a particle of uneasi-
ness. A week after the receipt of this disclaimer Miss
Kearman became the wife of Colonel Watson. Her sister
some time after married Captain Humfrays of the Bengal
Engineers.

Colonel Watson received me with all his former kindness,
expressing his sorrow that I had abandoned such excellent
business as I was in at the time of my departure for England,
especially as it might not be an easy matter to regain it.
" However," added he, " we must do all we can, and I trust,
Hickey, I shall have it in my power to recommend to you
some opulent native clients. As for myself, I must continue
with the man I now employ whom I look upon to be as
great a thief as ever was unhung, but a devilish shrewd,
clever fellow, fit for the practice of the villainous profession
he belongs to, and fully competent to encounter all the
chicanery and dirty tricks of his scoundrel brother attornies."

The name of the person alluded to was Solomon Hamilton,
and I firmly believe a more correct character never was
given than Colonel Watson's of this man. He had been
bred for, and called to, the Irish Bar, but upon his arrival
in Calcutta, which happened while I was in England, finding
the line of an attorney better suited to his capacity and
his talents he abandoned the gown to adopt the practice of
an attorney, in which he soon got immense business, and
by his general conduct shewed how well he deserved all that
Colonel Watson said of him.

A DOUBLE MISFORTUNE 147

I found all my other Sea Horse shipmates alive and well,
except two, my first Calcutta chum, poor Cleveland, who
had died of a bilious fever about two years after I left India,
and the youngest Miss Bertie, who married Mr. North Nailor,
the Company's attorney, falling a sacrifice to her sensibility
and anxiety on account of her husband. He had unavoid-
ably got into a dispute with the judges of the Supreme
Court upon a point contended for between them and the
Supreme Government. The Governor-General and Council
ordered a measure to be pursued which the Court considered
an infringement of its power. The attorney, Mr. Nailor,
was necessarily the channel of this measure being executed,
whereupon the Chief Justice, with his usual impetuosity and
violence, ordered an attachment to issue against Mr. Nailor
for a contempt of Court, although this gentleman was an
eleve of his own, and he was aware that he could not do
otherwise than obey the orders of his employers. Upon the
attachment Mr. Nailor was arrested and confined in the
common jail of Calcutta, which so hurt his feelings that, not
being in strong health at the time, it seriously affected his
health and he became alarmingly ill. This unfortunately
coming to the knowledge of Mrs. Nailor, who was pregnant,
expecting every day to be delivered, it brought on labour,
and in giving birth to her child she died, the infant following
her unhappy mot her in a few hours . This double misfortune
proved fatal to the husband ; he gave himself up from the
moment he heard of his loss, and in seven days followed his
lamented wife and child to the grave.

Sir Elijah Impey's rancour and violence extended to Mr.
William Swainston, the Company's servant in charge of the
district in which the native who was the subject of the dis-
pute resided. It being his duty, as a public officer, to carry
into execution the orders of the Government, he naturally
protected the native according to his instructions and would
not allow the process of the Court to be executed upon him,
for which he likewise was taken up on a writ of attachment
and lodged in the same prison with Mr. Nailor, but being a
man of stronger nerves than the attorney and the conse-

148 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

quences of the confinement not operating upon his mind,
he bore it with the utmost philosophy.

The elder Miss Bertie married one of the Mr. Cators, but
did not survive her sister more than a twelvemonth.

Mrs. Wheler, wife of the member of Council who went out
in the Duke of Portland in the year 1777 in the same fleet I
was, also departed this life while I was away from Bengal,
her widower in a few months after her decease marrying
Miss Durnford, a cousin of his first lady's.

I found but little alteration with respect to the members
constituting the Supreme Court. The only one that had
quitted the Bar was Mr. Charles Newman, the Company's
senior counsel. This gentleman, having served his employers
for several years with equal zeal and ability, felt so hurt
that they should supersede him by sending out an Advocate -
General that he immediately resigned his situation, and having
acquired a very handsome fortune in his profession embarked
for Europe on board the unfortunate Orosvenor. This ship
left Bengal at a period when lunar observations were little
known or practised. By their common reckoning they were
within a degree or two of the latitude of Cape Lagullas,
though several hundred miles to the eastward of it. They
therefore stood on for the land with the utmost confidence,
as was thought, too, in perfect security, but in the middle
of the night the ship ran on shore upon the continent of
Africa, where she was totally lost. At break of day they
found themselves within two miles of the shore, the sea
breaking so heavily over the wreck that all expected every
moment to perish. Nevertheless, by the exertions of the
crew, aided by the Caffre inhabitants of that part of the
coast, the greater part, with all the passengers except two
children and some native female servants, reached the shore
in safety. They were, however, instantly made prisoners of
and conveyed a great distance inland. During their long
and fatiguing march two of the common seamen made their
escape, and after undergoing incredible hardships succeeded
in reaching the Cape of Good Hope. The fate of the rest of
the sufferers has never been ascertained, although several

MR. BATEMAN DEMANDS SATISFACTION 149

persona were sent in search of them but without success.
This unfortunate event occurred in the year 1780 or 1781.

Mr. Chauncy Lawrence, the Company's junior counsel,
and brother to Sir Soulden Lawrence, a judge of the Court
of Common Pleas, died soon after my return to Bengal.

The remaining gentlemen at the Bar then were Messieurs
Thomas Henry Da vies, Advocate -General, William Dunkin,
James Dunkin, Charles Sealy, Charles Brix, Stephen Casson,
Ralph Uvedale and Phinehas Hall. The attornies were
nearly the same as when I left Bengal.

On the 7th of July Mr. Ley, second mate of the Chesterfield
Indiaman, who had been in the same situation on board the
Lord Mulgrave when Pott was passenger, came to his house,
in which from that day he continued a settled inmate,
shamefully abandoning his profession when in the prime
and vigour of life to become an indolent dependent and
toad eater to Pott, in which disgraceful situation he re-
mained for several years, indeed until Pott, from losing his
office of Resident at the Nabob's Court at Moorshedabad,
could no longer afford to maintain him in sloth and idleness.

On the 8th, being told a gentleman wished to speak to me
in private, I went into an ante-chamber, where I found
Captain Samuel Cox, who after the usual congratulations
upon my being once more an inhabitant of Calcutta, ex-
pressed great concern that his first visit should be of so
unpleasant a nature, but that attachment of a very long
standing made it incumbent on him to accept the disagree-
able office. After premising this much, he said he called
on the behalf of Mr. Nathaniel Bateman, who so strongly
felt the language I had held towards him when personally
present, as well as the contemptuous and disrespectful
manner in which I had often spoken of him to various French
officers, naval and military, whilst we were both residing
at Trincomalay, rendered it imperiously necessary for him
to demand of me satisfaction, his (Captain Cox's) business
therefore was to request I would name time, place and
weapons for the meeting, unless, as he sincerely hoped might
be the case, I made so violent a proceeding unnecessary by

150 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

apologizing for what had passed. I instantly observed that
anything in the way of apology from me was wholly out of
the question, as I really and truly thought the illiberal and
unhandsome behaviour of Mr. Bateman deserved all I said
of him. It was therefore arranged that we should meet the
following morning at sunrise, at the back of Belvidere House
at Alypore, with pistols, each attended by a friend ; that he
(Captain Cox) should accompany Mr. Bateman.

Upon the departure of my unpleasant visitor I informed
Pott of all that had occurred, entreating he would go with
me, which he instantly consented to, saying, " By God,
Bill, you shall shoot the dirty little rascal through the head.
I have a delicate pair of Wogdens that will do his business
effectually."

This 8th of July was to be an eventful day to me, for whilst
sitting after breakfast in Pott's verandah towards the river
I received a letter from Mr. John Lewis Auriol, the person
who had made a present of little Nabob previous to my
embarking for England, in which letter, after complimenting
me upon my marriage and safe return to India, he enquired
about the boy he lent me to act as servant during the voyage,
adding that if I had no further occasion for him he should
be glad to receive him back, being at that time greatly in
want of his services.

As Nabob had clearly been an absolute and unconditional
gift of Auriol's, I felt somewhat vexed at so unexpected and
unjust a claim. I knew Auriol to be a niggardly, parsi-
monious fellow in all his pecuniary transactions, but I could
not have thought him capable of such deliberate meanness.
Nabob had never been the least use to me as a servant ; he
had, however, been treated by myself and the whole of my
family with the utmost generosity and kindness, which he
repaid with the basest ingratitude, yet still I conceived he
was personally attached to me, for which reason, although
I considered him undeserving further attention, I resolved
not to give him up to so different a master as Mr. Auriol
would prove, unless he himself voluntarily consented to the
change, which I own I thought impossible,

NABOB ACCEPTS A NEW MASTER 151

Sending for Nabob into the verandah, I mentioned the
purport of the letter I held in my hand, asking if he had any
recollection of his former master, Mr. Auriol, to which he
answered, " Yes, I remember him very well." My next
question was whether during the four years he had lived with
me he had not been treated in the most kind and indulgent
manner by me and by every one of my family in England.
He replied coldly, " Yes." I then said, " Mr. Auriol now
desires to have you back, claiming you as his exclusive
property. This he undoubtedly has no right to do, nor shall
he have you unless you should be desirous of changing
masters. Now therefore, what say you ? Will you stay
with Mrs. Hie key and me, or do you prefer going to Mr.
John Auriol ? " Without a moment's hesitation, and with
an exulting smile, he answered he had rather go to Mr.
Auriol.

Mr. Pott had before him a folio volume of the Encyclopaedia
into which he had just been looking. So enraged was he
at the little wretch's extraordinary ingratitude that uttering
a great oath he let fly the immense volume at the young
culprit's head, but it luckily missed him. I ordered the un-
feeling boy out of sight, telling him he might go to Mr.
Auriol's with the servant who had just brought me the letter.

As I was determined the shabby conduct of Auriol should
not pass unnoticed, I addressed a letter to him expressive
of my astonishment at his demand of the boy, the impro-
priety of which he must be conscious of. I nevertheless
assured him I had no inclination to detain a worthless
object ; at the same time I took leave to remind him that
worthless and ungrateful as the boy in question certainly
was, yet being now a Christian he (Mr. Auriol) could no
longer be justified, nor would the law permit him, to treat
him as a slave.

I had but just dismissed Mr. Nabob when Durgachuru
Mucker jee came in. Immediately producing the bond I had
executed to him upon my departure for England, he observed
the principal and interest then due upon it amounted to
upwards of eight thousand rupees, which sum he should be

152 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

glad if I would forthwith pay, and also provide myself with
another banyan, as he did not choose any longer to be in
the service of an attorney. As at no period of my life was
I disposed to submit to insolence from any description of
person, but more especially from a native of Asia, I told
Master Durgaehuru he was an impertinent scoundrel, bid-
ding him leave the house as quickly as possible otherwise
I should order my servants to kick him out. He followed
my advice without a moment's pause, proceeding from
Mr. Pott's to his attorney's, whom he instructed to issue a
writ of capias ad satisfaciendum against me, in consequence
of which I was obliged to borrow the amount and discharge
his demand.

Before daybreak of the 9th I gently left Mrs. Hie key in
a profound sleep, and dressing myself in the next chamber,
Pott, whom I found up and dressed, and I stepped into his
post-chaise, driving to the appointed ground at Belvidere,
distant about three miles. Mr. Bateman and Captain Cox
arrived almost at the same instant that we did. The ground
being measured (twelve paces) by the seconds, it was, after
a short discussion, determined that we should toss up for
the first fire. Mr. Bateman won, discharged his pistol and
missed. I then fired mine, but equally without effect,
whereupon Mr. Bateman said it was then the time for him
to declare upon his honour as a gentleman he never had used
any disrespectful expression either to me or Mrs. Hickey,
neither by writing nor parolly, and that I had been entirely
misinformed relative thereto, his language of complaint
having been confined to the injustice of illiberality with
which he and the other two English gentlemen, Messieurs
Kemp and Brown, were treated by the French at Trin-
comalay, and that he had never even introduced my name
or made any comparison as to our relative treatment.
Upon this declaration, so seriously made and at so momen-
tous a time, the seconds interfered, a reconciliation in-
stantly took place, when I felt not the least reluctance to
apologize for the improper language I had used, and which
I was now convinced I had used under a mistaken impres-

THE DUEL WITH MR. BATEMAN 153

sion upon my mind. The seconds were much pleased with
our respective conduct, Mr. Bateman and I shook hands,
and thus we parted perfectly reconciled.

On the 10th I had the honour of visits from two members
of the Supreme Council, Mr. Macpherson and Mr. Stables.
The former I had seen several times, and had dined with,
but Mr. Stables I had not met with, he being upon a visit
at the city of Moorshedabad when I arrived and left my
card at his house. Mr. Macpherson made a number of civil
speeches, hoping he should frequently see me and Mrs.
Hickey when we were settled in Calcutta. He also said his
esteemed friend Mr. Benfield had mentioned us in the most
flattering way in his letters to him.

The 12th my London hairdresser, Freskini, arrived and
took up his abode at Pott's as one of my establishment. He
came from Europe in one of the China ships to Madras, and
from thence in a small country vessel. I agreed to pay him
one hundred sicca rupees a month, with board and lodging,
besides which I gave him permission to dress as many ladies
as he could without interfering with his attendance upon me.

The remainder of the month passed in receiving and
paying visits. Every evening Pott drove Mrs. Hickey and
me in his phaeton to the racecourse, where it was then the
fashion for the carriages to draw up round the stand, the
gentlemen and ladies passing half an hour in lively conver-
sation.

CHAPTER XII

OLD FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES

AS many of my former native clients had applied to me
JL\. on matters of business, I was obliged to go to town daily,
Mr. Tolfrey having very obligingly accommodated me with
an apartment in his house to receive them. He, however,
strongly urged me to fix myself in Calcutta as speedily as
possible, being convinced I was losing a great deal of money
by residing out of town and not being accessible at all times
to the natives who were desirous of consulting me profes-
sionally. I therefore began to look about for a suitable
house, in which I was materially assisted by Stackhouse
Tolfrey, by Mr. Hesilrige, and his lady. With the latter pair
we spent much of our time, Mrs. Hesilrige and my Charlotte
becoming greatly attached to each other.

In the middle of August I succeeded in getting a capital
house in a central part of the town and not far distant from
the Court house, which was particularly desirable to me who
was obliged to attend there daily in the execution of my
business as an attorney. It was the property of an old
woman, a Mrs. Brightman, who let it to me at three hundred
sicca rupees a month, I binding myself to pay at that rate
of rent for one year certain.

Towards the end of the same month the Crocodile frigate,
or rather, I believe, sloop of war, commanded by Captain
Williamson, who several years afterwards disgraced himself
in the famous action with the Dutch on the Dogger Bank,
he at that time commanding the Agincourt, arrived at Cal-
cutta, having on board passengers from Europe, Sir William
and Lady Jones. Sir William was appointed to fill the
vacant seat on the Bench occasioned by the death of Mr,

'54

MR. MIDDLETON'S BAD MEMORY 155

Justice Le Maitre, which happened so far back as the month
of November, 1777. Sir Robert Chambers, being upon an
excursion to Benares and the upper provinces, left directions
that in case of Sir William Jones's coming during his absence
he might have the use of his house until he could meet with
one to his liking. He accordingly went into it.

The second morning after Sir William's arrival Sir Elijah
Impey sent a written paper in circulation to every gentleman
belonging to the Court, inviting them to breakfast at his
apartments the following day, and proceed in a body from
thence for the purpose of being individually introduced to
the new judge previous to his being sworn into office. The
advocates, officers and attornies in consequence obeyed the
summons, but as I did not choose after Sir Elijah's reception
of me, as already stated, to partake of his coffee or tea I
joined the cavalcade on their way from the Court house to
Sir Robert Chambers 's, and in my turn was made known to
Sir William Jones, who upon my name being mentioned
said he believed we had formerly been schoolfellows at
Harrow. I replied it was not me, but two elder brothers of
mine who were there in his time.

After this introduction was over my friend Morse carried
me to see two sisters of his who had come out to him while
I was in England. They both married admirably well soon
after their arrival, one to Mr. Middleton, who afterwards
rendered himself famous by the evidence he gave before
Parliament upon the trial of Mr. Hastings, when his total
want of recollection respecting any fact or circumstances
which he conceived could tend to the prejudice of his patron
was so very marked and determined that he acquired the
nickname of " Memory Middleton," and retained the same
to the day of his death. The other sister became the wife of
Mr. Cat or, a man of large independent fortune, who late in
life having lost a material proportion thereof in some un-
successful speculations was induced to return to Bengal in
the hopes of once more increasing his substance, and was
killed on board the Kent Indiaman in an action with a French
privateer close to Balasore Roads.

156 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

Mr. Morse, through the influence of these brothers-in-law,
in the year 1781, obtained the situation of paymaster to a
large detachment of troops sent overland from Bengal to
the coast of Coromandel, and marched with them, conse-
quently relinquishing his profession of a lawyer by which
he had been making a great deal of money, the temptation
of a paymastership, which was then considered the most
lucrative situation a person could be placed in, inducing
him, for a time at least, to abandon the certainty, and that,
too, for what ultimately proved a delusion. During the
tedious march he was unfortunate enough to quarrel with
the commanding officer, who from that moment not only
thwarted him in all the customary modes of making profit
of the post he filled, but likewise rendered his situation so
extremely disagreeable as at last to force him in disgust to
resign the paymastership and return to Bengal, where he
resumed the gown and band. Short, however, as had been
his secession, for he was absent no more than seven months,
his place at the Bar was already filled up by a gentleman
who had been admitted as an advocate near a twelvemonth
before without, however, getting into practice until Morse's
departure made an opening. This gentleman was Mr.
Thomas Henry Da vies, who came to India with Captain
Rainier in a man-of-war. Mr. Davies, though inferior to
Morse in point of legal knowledge, had greatly the advantage
in every other respect. He was eloquent, quick, and pos-
sessed of splendid natural talents improved by the best
education and much reading. Morse, previous to his whim-
sical experiment, had been engaged on one side or the other
in every cause, but on his resuming his original profession
sat whole days in Court unemployed, a circumstance that
mortified him excessively, for independent of the pecuniary
consideration he had a large share of pride. He derived some
consolation from having secured a promise of the judges to
appoint him sheriff the ensuing year, and he told me that if
I chose to accept the office I should be his under-sherifL

Mr. Davies owed his rise principally to his being counsel
against a bye-law proposed to be brought forward by

SIR JOHN DAY'S FULSOME PROFESSIONS 157

Gorernment, which, had it taken effect, would have been
extremely prejudicial to the commercial interests of Bengal.
The merchants therefore strongly opposed it, and Mr. Da vies
handled the subject with such skill and ability that the
measure was rejected by the judges, notwithstanding they
had before approved and promised to support it. This
triumph wonderfully increased the popularity of Mr. Da vies,
so much so that every suitor was anxious he should plead
for them. He became the Company's Advocate -General,
being nominated to that station by the Supreme Govern-
ment of Calcutta, and so ably did he execute the various
duties of the office that the Court of Directors presented him
with the sum of thirty thousand sicca rupees over and above
his salary and allowances, with a handsome complimentary
letter expressive of the high sense they entertained of his
zeal on their behalf, shewn in a great variety of instances.

Amongst the numerous visitors I had while I continued at
Mr. Pott's gardens was Sir John Day, who overwhelmed me
with fulsome and unmeaning professions of regard. He
pressed me much to let him enjoy as large a portion of my
time as I could spare from the claims of other friends.
Although I considered all these as words of course, without
meaning or sincerity, still I thought myself bound in
common civility to call upon the knight and his lady. I
accordingly did so, and was introduced in form to her
ladyship, who affected to receive me as a stranger although
she knew me just as well as her husband did. Being fully
aware of her impertinence, I never took the least notice of
her when we met casually, nor paid her the common com-
pliment of touching my hat, neither did 1 ever enter the
knight's house except upon special invitation, but whenever
I did accept their summons I constantly went through the
same ceremony of introduction, for as she coldly returned
my salutation I imagine Sir John thought she did not
recognize me ; he therefore, approaching and taking my
hand, led mo close up to his vain and silly wife, saying,
" My dear, Mr. Hie key ; Mr. Hickey, Lady Day," after
which she and I never exchanged a word.

158 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKET

We now heard of another battle having been fought
between the British and French fleets off Cuddalore, the
issue of which, notwithstanding the superior condition of
Sir Edward Hughes 's ships over those of the enemy, was in
no way creditable to the English, the most that we could
say being that it was a drawn battle. No ship was taken
or destroyed on either side, but the conflict was most san-
guinary. I was greatly concerned to hear that in this action
my worthy and respected friend the Chevalier De Salvert
lost his life, being cut in two by a cannon-ball on the quarter-
deck of the Flamand whilst gallantly fighting his ship and
encouraging her crew to use their utmost exertions to
ensure success . I truly grieved at his death, notwithstanding
he died fighting against my country, but that was no fault
of his, and I firmly believe a better man never lived. Such
are the dire and lamentable consequences of war, the best
men often being the most unfortunate. This brings to my
recollection a couplet I used to admire when a boy :

"God takes the good, too good on earth to stay,
And leaves the bad, too bad to take away."

The French according to their custom claimed a victory
in this battle, and probably with more foundation than upon
any of the former occasions, for they kept their station at
an anchor off Cuddalore, while Sir Edward Hughes and his
fleet retired to Fort St. George, there to refit his crippled
ships. The reason assigned for our want of success was that
all the British ships were far short of their complement of
men, some of them being deficient in nearly two hundred.
Of that fact I have no doubt, but I also know that the French
were equally short of hands, and several of their vessels in
a wretched state.

A rumour prevailed in Calcutta that the Crocodile had
brought out Sir Elijah Impey's recall in order to answer
certain charges of having been guilty of several acts incom-
patible with his public station of Chief Justice of the Supremo
Court, which charges it was intended to bring forward as

THE CEREMONY OF « SETTING UP " 159

soon as he arrived in England. This rumour proved to be
well founded, as Sir Elijah took his passage and embarked
in the month of January.

Having furnished my house very handsomely, at an
expence of upwards of twelve thousand rupees, including
plate, we, on the 1st of September, went into it and com-
menced regular house-keepers, my Charlotte undertaking to
manage the interior business. Upon thus settling in town
it became necessary for her to go through a disagreeable
and foolish ceremony, in those times always practised by
new-comers of the fair sex, and which was called " setting
up," that is the mistress of the house being stuck up, full
dressed, in a chair at the head of the best room (the apart-
ment brilliantly lighted), having a female friend placed on
each side, thus to receive the ladies of the settlement, three
gentlemen being selected for the purpose of introducing the
respective visitors, male and female, for every lady that
called was attended by at least two gentlemen. One of the
three gentlemen received the hand of the fair visitor at the
door, led her up to the stranger, announcing her name,
whereupon curtseys were exchanged, the visitor accepted
a proffered seat amidst the numerous circle, where after
remaining five, or at most ten, minutes she arose, the
salutations were again exchanged and the party retired to
make way for the quick successor, this moving scene con-
tinuing from seven o'clock in the evening until past eleven.
The same occurred the two following evenings, to the dread-
ful annoyance of the poor woman condemned to go through
so tiresome and unpleasant a process. A further incon-
venience attended this practice, which was the necessity of
returning every one of the visits thus made.

As the society of Calcutta increased in number " setting
up " became less frequent, and about the year 1786 ceased
altogether, persons from thenceforward selecting their
acquaintances according to liking as in Europe. .

To give an idea of the fatigue attending the above mon-
strous ceremony I will mention that the names of those
ladies I recollect to have come to Mrs. Hickey number nearly

160 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

one hundred, upon each of whom she was in return obliged
to call.

A few days after my coming to reside in Calcutta I
received the following letter from Mr. Macpherson :

" DEAR SIB,

I am glad to hear you are come to live in town. I mean
soon to pay my respects to you and Mrs. Hickey. For some
time past I have been very little at home, and have been obliged
to live as retired as possible, and which I must continue to do
until my health is re-established.

I am very truly and with great regard,
Your faithful humble servant,

JOHN MACPHERSON."

I was also honoured with an epistle from my former
troublesome client and namesake Mr. James Augustus
Hicky, dated from his old quarters, the gaol of Calcutta,
earnestly beseeching that 1 would have the goodness to call
upon him. I complied, and thus put myself into the un-
pleasant predicament of being compelled to listen to his
incoherent rhapsody of violence and scurrilous abuse of all
those whom he fancied had offended him. He told me " he
was most iniquitously and unjustly confined, that in him
I beheld a victim to arbitrary power, illegally exercised, his
enemies and persecutors being Warren Hastings, Governor-
General, and Elijah Impey, the unworthy Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court of Judicature." He further asserted
" that as those despots found they could not crush him by
open, fair and legal means they without scruple or com-
punction had recourse to the most diabolical machinations
to effect their wicked purpose and complete his ruin, for
which end they first tampered with and finally actually
bought over the High Sheriff of Calcutta to their interests ;
that at their instigation and under their instructions that
public officer had been base and infamous enough to pack
a jury, well convinced that without such a step no twelve
British inhabitants would be found to perjure themselves

GROSS LIBELS ON MR. HASTINGS 161

to suit the inconvenience or vindictive minds of Hastings
and Impey ! "

The real fact was that this turbulent man having published
various paragraphs in his famous newspaper reflecting in
the strongest and most abusive language upon both the
public and private conduct of the Governor-General, Mr.
Hastings, that gentleman at last resolved to make an
example of the author of such gross and indecent scandal
by prosecuting him on the Crown or Criminal side of the
Court for the libels. Three different Bills of Indictment
were accordingly presented to the Grand Jury and all re-
turned "True Bills." The first of these coming on for trial
before a petit jury in Court, two of the jurors being for an
acquittal starved out the other ten, who contended the
libel had been clearly brought home to the defendant and
he must be pronounced guilty. After being closely shut up
for thirty hours the majority yielded, consenting to a
verdict of not guilty, which was returned, whereupon the
Chief Justice flew into a prodigious rage, violently declaring
he would not suffer such a verdict to be recorded, it being
directly and positively in the teeth of the evidence, and he
ordered them to retire again and reconsider it, upon which
Mr. Thomas Lyon, one of the jurymen, with a becoming
spirit observed " he well knew the nature of the oath he
had taken, which required him to do justice between the
parties, that is between the Sovereign and the prisoner at
the Bar ; that he had not hastily, nor without due consider-
ation, formed his opinion, nor should he lightly change it,
or be threatened into giving a different one." They, however,
obeyed the order of the Court by retiring to their private
apartment for a few minutes, when they returned the same
verdict, not guilty, which the Chief Justice could not help
receiving.

This was an amazing triumph for Hicky and his partisans.
Sir Elijah Impey, after very indecorously commenting upon
the verdict that had just been recorded and reprobating a
jury capable of giving such a one, haughtily desired twelve
different persons might be called to try the Second Indict-

III.— M

162 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

ment. He was, of course, obeyed, but again there happened
to be (as Hicky expressed it) "at least one independent,
honourable man of persevering integrity and not to be
browbeat.'* They brought in a similar verdict, not guilty.
The Third Indictment shared the same fate, and Hicky
went off triumphant.

The following Sessions, however, "the scoundrel Chief
Justice " (to use Hicky 's language) " and his equally aban-
doned and unprincipled partner in iniquity, Warren Hast-
ings, aided by the villain of a Sheriff, managed matters so
as to suit their sinister purposes. A petit jury consisting of
despicable wretched tools and dependants, at the head of
whom appeared the names of John Rider, that arch old
fiend Levett, Miller and others of the same stamp, being sum-
moned. Fresh Indictments were preferred, True Bills found,
and finally, to the eternal shame and disgrace of twelve
Englishman, they returned in each of the three cases a
verdict of guilty, notwithstanding the evidence given was
precisely the same as upon the former occasions," whereupon
the Court immediately pronounced judgment, sentencing
him to six months' imprisonment from that day upon each
Indictment, making altogether a period of eighteen months ;
to pay a fine to the King of three thousand sicca rupees in
each case, being nine thousand in the whole, and to be
further imprisoned until those fines were paid.

" Thus," continued Hicky, " am I immured in a loath-
some prison for life, for all patriotism and public spirit is
fled from this quarter of the globe. A few persons, very few
indeed ! who had not entirely lost their sensibility or the
glorious feelings of Britons, pitying the hardships I had en-
dured and the cruelty of my then situation, made an un-
successful effort towards my relief by calling a meeting of
those European inhabitants who were friends to freedom,
where it was intended to propose a subscription for paying
the fines, as well as the exorbitant fees of the Clerk of the
Crown, and to present me with a sum of money sufficient
to maintain me until I could resume my business upon en-
largement, but only five gentlemen attending the meeting

CHALLENGING A JURY 163

so summoned (every person being more or less fearful it
should be known they were disposed to aid a man whom
the Governor-General and Chief Justice had devoted to
destruction), the matter dropped, and here, after a confine-
ment of upwards of two years, am I doomed to terminate
my miserable existence, gradually sinking with a broken
heart to the grave."

Hicky, as I have already remarked, was just such another
man as Cressy, blessed by nature with considerable talents,
but quite uneducated, violent in temper, especially when
opposed or thwarted in any of his wild plans, to the highest
degree. While upon his trials he shewed much acuteness
of judgment, cross-examining the witnesses for the prose-
cution in a manner that would not have discredited a lawyer
in a first-rate practice. In his challenges of particular jury-
men he excited much laughter and mirth from the objec-
tions he brought forward to some of their going into the
box. One was unfit from being an open and avowed friend
and supporter of Mr. Hastings ; another was upon equal good
terms with Sir Elijah Impey ; a third he boldly taxed with
having been bribed to find a verdict of guilty ; a fourth
held a lucrative post under Government, consequently could
not act independently. His objection to John Rider was
delivered in these words, " I might as well at once plead
guilty as have that sycophant upon my jury. He will do
just as you (looking up at Sir Elijah Impey) direct him. He
is absolutely at your beck and at your disposal. The man
has no soul : a corrupt, sordid, contemptible toad eater of
the Chief Justice, with whose wife he is tolerably familiar,
plain as is his person and deficient as is his understanding.
Besides, he is running about the town all day long peeping
into every Europe shop in order to buy frippery (meaning
millinery) for that said favourite lady." This threw the
auditors into a roar of laughter. The grossness and the
absurdity of the speech disarmed even the Chief Justice of
his wrath, exciting only in him a contemptuous sneer.

Whilst residing at Pott's Gardens I renewed my acquaint-
ance with Mr. Peter Moore and his family, which gentleman

164 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

is now become a prodigious politician. He still continues to
represent the city of Coventry in Parliament, and frequently
speaks in the House, always in the opposition. His change
from poverty to affluence was uncommonly rapid. At the
time of my return to India in 1783 I found him no better
situated in point of circumstances than when I left him in
1779. He had a wife, with a host of children, was deeply
involved in debt, without a prospect of ever being able to
extricate himself, for, having rendered himself obnoxious
to Mr. Hastings, he had long been out of employ, for several
years receiving nothing more than the three hundred and
odd rupees a month allowed to senior servants who held no
post or office. From some unknown cause Mr. Hastings
suddenly relaxed from his hostile conduct, offering Mr.
Moore a lucrative employment, which he, with the utmost
contempt, refused to accept, accompanying such refusal
with a letter, wherein he wrote that having already waited
so unreasonable a time in expectation of being treated with
justice, and disappointed in such expectations, he was
resolved to wait yet longer in preference to receiving any-
thing in the shape of a favour from the then ruling power,
whose reign of tyranny and injustice he had reason to hope
was nearly at an end. Strange as it may seem after such
arrogant and insulting language, it is nevertheless a certain
fact that within two months after thus insolently spurning
at Mr. Hastings' offer to serve him, and within three months
of that gentleman's quitting the Governor-Generalship, this
very Mr. Moore did accept the Residency of Rungpore, to
which station he accordingly went, and from whence in
somewhat less than eighteen months he returned to Calcutta
with so overgrown a fortune as to be enabled to return with
all his family to England, get into the House of Commons,
and purchase a fine estate in Essex. By what means such
wealth was so suddenly acquired he best knows.

Upon my return to Bengal I found my Margate acquaint-
ance, Metcalfe, with the rank of major in the army, and
filling the post of military storekeeper, a situation in those
clays the most lucrative in the Company's service, which he

THE WIDOW REFUSES A FOOL 165

had attained by most perseveringly courting the heads of
the Government. Shortly after his last arrival in Calcutta
he married Mrs. Smith, widow of Major Smith of the Com-
pany's infantry, who was brother to the far-famed General
Richard Smith of cheesemongering celebrity, of whom I
have already spoken upon meeting him at the Governor of
St. Helena's table when on my way home in the beginning
of the year 1770. This fair dame (who is now Lady Met-
calfe, her husband having purchased the title of baronet)
had no one merit to recommend her, at least that I could
discover, unless it was a great similarity in figure, in mas-
culine and vulgarity of manners to his ci-devant favourite
the notorious Mrs. Cuyler. But having expressed these
unfavourable sentiments of the lady it is only common
candour to admit that everyone did not see with my eyes,
for Mr. William Pawson, an old civil servant of the Com-
pany's upon the Bengal establishment, was so deeply
enamoured with her charms that although she had not a
single guinea in the world he proposed marrying and
settling a handsome sum upon her, an offer she spurned at
with the utmost scorn, notwithstanding which the unhappy
lover persevered in his endeavours to make her relent,
renewing his attack three different times, all equally unsuc-
cessful. He was as worthy a creature as ever breathed, but
clearly not the brightest genius. In proof of which I must
state that I was once present with him in a large company
where matrimony was the topic under discussion. After
much had been said pro and con upon the subject, Mrs.
Smith, looking full in Mr. Pawson's face, with a marked
and peculiar manner, and in a sharp angry voice, said, " I
certainly cannot tell who is destined to be my future husband,
but this I can confidently affirm that I never will become
the wife of a fool ! " Poor Mr. Pawson, who was on the
next chair to the one I sat in, thereupon turned to me and
with the utmost simplicity, accompanied by a long-drawn
sigh, said, " That's me / "

One of my earliest clients upon resuming the practice of
my profession in Calcutta was this said Major Metcalfe, the

166 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

subject as follows : His wife's first husband died insolvent,
leaving her, as before mentioned, utterly destitute, in which
pitiable situation Mr. Bromley, an attorney of great emi-
nence in the Mayor's Court of Madras, and a truly respectable
man, out of regard to the memory of her deceased husband
as well as to that of her late father, Mr. Debonaire, thentofore
a merchant for many years resident at Fort St. George, with
both of whom he (Mr. Bromley) had lived in habits of the
greatest friendship and intimacy, received her into his own
family, where she was treated just as affectionately and
kindly as if she had been his child. He not only paid every
one of her debts, but supplied her with an ample stock of
clothes and necessaries which she was previously extremely
bare of, gave her money for her own private disbursements,
and likewise paid the undertaker's bill for the charges of
burying Major Smith.

After living in this manner for three1 at Mr.

Bromley's her health became so indifferent that the medical
gentlemen, finding their prescriptions of no avail, advised,
as is frequently their plan in similar cases, a change of air,
whereupon Mr. Bromley with the same benevolence that
had influenced him throughout resolved to send her to
Bengal for the advantage of three cool months, which he
hoped might completely restore her. He accordingly
arranged everything for her, paid her passage on board a
large and commodious ship, making the captain engage to
convey her quite up to Calcutta, and gave her several letters
of recommendation to female friends of his in Bengal, all
of whom he earnestly solicited to shew every attention in
their power to his poor invalid. In short, he left no effort
untried for her benefit, in consequence of which she was
not only most hospitably received and treated in Bengal, but
soon after being restored to perfect health had the good
fortune to gain the affections of Major Metcalfe, who made
his offer, was accepted of course, and they married.

Impressed with grateful sentiments to Mr. Bromley, as
the founder of her fortune and restorer of her health, she

1 Word omitted in MS. — ED.

A WOMAN'S BASE INGRATITUDE 167

probably felt, and certainly expressed, her sense of the
obligations she lay under in the most feeling language in her
various letters to that gentleman, always acknowledging
how much he had done for her, and that no change of situa-
tion should ever make her for a moment lose sight of the
infinite obligations he had conferred upon her ; that with
respect to the considerable sums of money he had disbursed
on her account, should she ever marry a second time her
first object should be to reimburse him the amount he had
so nobly and so disinterestedly expended upon her, which
she ever must consider a debt of her own, a debt, too, of
such a nature as imperiously required her earliest attention
to the liquidation of. Yet all these proper and grateful
effusions were ultimately forgotten or not acted upon.

It so happened that Mr. Bromley from a variety of causes
unnecessary here to relate became involved himself in
pecuniary embarrassments, when, hearing that his late
protege, the widow Smith, had become the wife of a man
possessed of immense wealth, who likewise filled a public
station of great emolument, he addressed a letter to the
bride wherein he informed her of the sad reverse that had
occurred to him, a reverse so melancholy as to render a
return of those sums of money he had advanced and paid
for her when in distress and indigence an object of the
utmost importance, and therefore hoping she would forth-
with reimburse him according to promise. To this demand
she at first replied evasively ; a regular correspondence on
the subject followed, which having continued more than a
year and an half, and without a single rupee being returned,
he was convinced neither gratitude nor a sentiment of
common honesty operated with Mrs. Metcalfe ; he therefore
thought it high time to alter his mode of proceeding. He
therefore wrote to Major Metcalfe, calling upon him to fulfil
the engagements his wife had entered into, admitting,
however, that such engagement had been so entered into
during the latter part of her widowhood. With the Major
he had no better success than with the wife, meeting only
with shuffling and evasion. Irritated beyond measure at

168 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

the woman's base ingratitude and breach of promise so
repeatedly given, he resolved to proceed to coercion, for
which purpose he caused a Bill in Equity to be filed in the
Supreme Court against Major and Mrs. Metcalfe, wherein
the whole of the particular facts herein before alluded to
were set forth, to which Bill was annexed a schedule contain-
ing an account of the different sums of money he had ad-
vanced and paid to and for Mrs. Smith, and the amount then
due from her. The purport of the different letters of Mrs.
Metcalfe when widow Smith to the complainant Bromley
wherein she expressed the high sense she entertained of the
innumerable favours conferred and her fixed determination
to repay the amount advanced whenever the means were
within her power, etc., were stated to have been written
and sent by her, but that since the receipt of them they had
been lost or mislaid, and though searched for very strictly
could nowhere be found.

Upon my perusing this said Bill and ascertaining that it
was the handiwork of the enterprising and ingenious Mr.
Solomon Hamilton, who from his peculiar merits had
become the favourite attorney of Colonel Watson, and of
whom I have already made honourable mention, it struck
me as smelling very much of the lamp, that is to say, as one
of the artful devices of a true Newgate solicitor, used as a
trap to draw a person, of whose integrity and good faith he
probably entertained some doubt, into a scrape by inducing
the denial of ever having written or sent such letters as
charged by the Bill and stated to be lost, but which letters
were at that very time actually in existence to speak for
themselves. With this impression upon my mind I there-
fore, when taking instructions for the lady's answer, and
finding she boldly said she never had written any such
letters, and the assertion by Bromley that she had, an in-
famous falsehood, very pointedly and particularly cautioned
her respecting so unqualified a denial, observing it was pos-
sible the writing of them might have escaped her recollec-
tion. To which remark of mine she hastily replied, "No,
no ! I say, and I insist upon it. I never did write

A DISHONOURABLE CLIENT 169

anything of the kind ; it is an abominable lie to say I
did."

Notwithstanding these confident assertions, repeated
vehemently over and over, I again observed what an
extremely disagreeable situation she would place herself in
should such papers ever appear, a circumstance I could not
help thinking likely to happen from the explicit manner in
which their contents were set forth in the Bill and the artful
way in which the subject was treated. So satisfied was I
that the pretence of loss of the letters was one of Mr. Solomon
Hamilton's tricks that I could not reconcile to myself the
permitting Mrs. Metcalfe to swear she never had written
such. I therefore once more strongly urged her to qualify
the denial by adding the words " to the best of my know-
ledge and belief," but no, she would not listen to anything
I said on that head ; nothing short of a flat and positive
denial would satisfy the unfeeling woman, Major Metcalfe
supporting her and appearing offended at my persevering
in a wish she should be less positive. He even asked me if
I imagined his wife to be so egregious a blockhead as to be
capable of a forgetfulness beyond probability, he might
safely say beyond all possibility.

I could add no more to what I had before said upon the
subject, but when I submitted the draught of the answer
to Mr. Morse for his perusal and signature as counsel for the
defendants I plainly told him I had not the shadow of a doubt
but that the lady was resolved to commit the grossest per-
jury, for I firmly believed not only that she had written the
letters as charged in the Bill, but that she had the most
perfect recollection of the fact, and basely and infamously
meant to deny it under the idea that those letters were lost,
as the Bill stated them to be, which had it been the case,
she had probably learnt, her denial would preclude all
further evidence respecting them.

Mr. Morse was shocked at my suspicion, declaring he could
not suppose a woman of Mrs. Metcalfe 's rank and station in
life capable of such abandoned and infamous profligacy!
The event nevertheless shewed I was right. Upon publica-

170 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

tion passing and my obtaining a copy of the depositions and
exhibits I found every one of the letters alluded to in the
complainant's Bill, besides many others, couched in equally
forcible language, appeared, all in the lady's own proper
handwriting, every one fully proved by competent and
irreproachable witnesses .

With such damning documents in evidence the conse-
quence naturally was a decree against the defendants for
the full amount claimed by Mr. Bromley, with interest
thereon at ten per cent, attended likewise with some very
severe comments upon the female defendant's conduct from
the Bench and the Bar, which she as well as her husband
were out of the way of hearing, for before the trial of the
cause they had embarked for Europe, thus avoiding the
severe remarks that were made in the public newspapers
and the general odium attached to their characters upon so
disgraceful an issue of the cause. So much for the gratitude
and the honour of the amiable Lady Metcalfe !

CHAPTER XIII

CHARLOTTE AND HER FRIENDS

UPON settling in Calcutta I soon got into considerable
practice, and I had the gratification to find that I gave
general satisfaction to my employers and was sometimes
complimented by the adverse party for my candour and
liberality. I kept, as I had always done wherever I resided,
the first company of the place, upon all occasions treating
my inferiors with civility and respectful attention, but ever
discouraging any attempts towards familiarity, and thus I
retained the good opinion of all ranks.

It being necessary to keep a carriage for Mrs. Hickey, I
purchased a neat London -built chariot, for which I paid
three thousand sicca rupees, a phaeton for my own use at
eighteen hundred, and three excellent draught horses which
cost me seventeen hundred and fifty, then considered a very
reasonable price. All these heavy purchases, with the
addition of wines and other liquors, always the most serious
article in India, involved me in debt to an amount of up-
wards of forty thousand sicca rupees, for the whole of which
I was obliged to pay an interest of twelve per cent per
annum, a debt so heavy as to prove a load about my neck
for full twenty years afterwards.

In the month of September the Honourable Frederick
Fitzroy, then a fine boy of thirteen, arrived. He was a
younger son of Lord Southampton's, which nobleman having
a numerous family, with a moderate fortune to support
them, was glad to accept a writership in the East India
Company's service on their Bengal establishment for
Frederick. As I always admired what I had been myself in
my early days, that is a complete pickle, and young Fitzroy

171

172 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

being as I conceived exactly of that description, I took
notice of him by frequently inviting him to dinner with
pleasant parties until from long acquaintance I discovered
there was more of sheer vice than boyish mischief in his
pranks and his disposition. I therefore dropped him. He
was quick and acute enough, but of a depraved mind ; per-
haps in common candour I ought to add that I believe he
at times partook of an infirmity that prevailed in his mother
and her family — insanity. He certainly was more than once
deranged.

I remember a circumstance respecting that which created
a great laugh. A gentleman recently arrived in Calcutta
called at Mr. Macpherson's to visit one of his family named
Macaulay. Meeting Fitzroy, to whom he had been intro-
duced the preceding day, he enquired of him whether Mr.
Macaulay was at home and which was his room. Fitzroy
replied, " Which of them ? " The stranger said he did not
know there had been more than one of the name ; that his
friend was a Scotchman. " Oh zounds ! " cried Fitzroy,
" that's no description here, the house is crowded with them.
I am the only foreigner of the family. However, let us
endeavour to find your friend. Should you know him when
you see him ? " " Aye, surely," said the gentleman, " per-
fectly well." "That's lucky," replied the young pickle,
" then I'll tell you what to do. Go out into the street, stand
opposite the middle of the front of the house and call out
in as loud a voice as you can, * Mac I ' In an instant you'll
see a head pop out of every window in the house, and you
can then fix upon the identical Mac you are in search of ! "

I was scarcely settled in my house in Calcutta ere my
dearest Charlotte's health began visibly to decline, although
to my daily remarks thereon and entreaties that she would
take care of herself and let me consult a physician she in-
variably desired I would not do so, for that nothing ailed her
that could be attended with danger, and she was sure the
approaching cool weather would entirely carry off the
trifling complaint she had. Whilst at Pott's country house
she had been more than once attacked with sudden and

A BEAUTIFUL PRESENT 173

violent pains in her breast, upon which occasions I procured
the medical assistance of Dr. James Wilson, who resided in
the neighbourhood, when he gave me the comfortable in-
telligence that nothing was to be apprehended, the attacks
being altogether nervous, and he agreed with her in thinking
the change of weather would entirely restore her. This
made me less uneasy than I otherwise should have been.
The seeds of a fatal disease were nevertheless then lurking
about her, the progress of which was probably hastened by
the uninterrupted course of entertainments she was en-
gaged in, and the late hours she necessarily kept in conse-
quence, for all my old acquaintances and many new ones
were abundantly civil. Among the former no one surpassed
Mr. Stackhouse Tolfrey, from whom I received a small box
containing a beautiful pearl necklace, ear-rings and bracelets,
accompanied by the following letter :

" MY DEAR HICKEY,

From the unkindness of Mrs. Hickey I am obliged to
request the exercise of a husband's authority. Would you
believe she could have been so cruel as to treat me as the most
entire stranger by refusing a very trifling mark of my esteem.
Yet this I assure you she has done, and I must now be indebted
to your influence for a favour which I acknowledge I should
have been more gratified to have owed to her good opinion.
Tell her, my inestimable friend, of the many many, the in-
numerable obligations I lay under to you, and she surely will
not continue to make me unhappy by denying me the pleasure
of showing by any little attentions in my power the truly grate-
ful sense I have, and surely ought to have, of the kindnesses
conferred, kindnesses so unbounded that I feel conscious I never
can sufficiently return them. Mrs. Hickey's unkindness towards
ine must appear the more extraordinary and the greater when
I tell you that the object of her scruples is the trifle that I send
herewith, which I beg and hope you will compel her to receive,
and, if she does not deem them unworthy, to wear, them hi
remembrance of a truly grateful friend of her husband's.

Yours ever,

ST. TOLFREY."

174 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

This magnificent present, which the donor made so light of,
was of the value of two hundred pounds at least, and it was
their costliness that induced my poor darling to refuse
accepting them.

The following complimentary letters were from Mr.
William Johnson and Mrs. Hesilrige :

" MY DEAR MRS. HICKEY,

I could not write to you before this instant because I
wanted first to see Lady D'Oyley, who dines here, and we
expected she would sup here also. That, however, is still in
suspense, and if she does not my sister is to sup with her. I have
asked my sister what I shall say from her to you, and these
are her words, ' I shall be very sorry indeed to have Mrs. Hickey
call again without my seeing her, and as there is a probability
of my going out this evening and I might thereby be deprived
the happiness of meeting her should she call during my absence
from home, which would be a great disappointment to me, do
therefore, my dear brother, present my kindest respects to her
and request the favour of her to spend the evening and sup
here on Friday, as I am to pass to-morrow at Champion's
Gardens.' I hope, my dear madam, that Hickey 's indisposition
will not prevent you from complying with her request, and that
we shall see him with you. I shall rejoice to hear he is better.
You seemed so uneasy about him last night that I was really
alarmed, and could I possibly have got out to-day should have
called to see him.

Yours very respectfully,

WM. JOHNSON."

" I want much, iny dear Mrs. Hickey, to come and sit with you,
but the ugly doctor will not let me go out in the sun as I yesterday
had some return of fever, and I assure you it increases my un-
easiness from knowing I have already been tormented with this
fever near five months. I am told great attention and care,
aided by the bark, will soon rid me of it entirely. I do assure
you nothing but the care I am compelled to take of my poor weak
and debilitated frame could prevent me from being constantly
your companion during your confinement. It is every way a
mortifying circumstance to me not to be able to do so, as I

FRIENDLY LETTERS 175

should thereby not only pass my hours happily, but feel a
particular gratification in endeavouring by every means in my
power to contribute to your ease and comfort.

Believe me,

Most affectionately yours,

E. J. HESILRIGE."

My clearest Charlotte had the further gratification to find
that she was not forgotten by the friends she acquired
during our stay at Madras, as the following kind letters
fully evince. The first was from Mrs. Barclay in these
words :

" MADRAS,
ISth July, 1783.

" MY DEAR FRIEND,

I had the pleasure to receive your letter dated the 29th
of June two days ago, and it gave me very sincere satisfaction
to hear of your safe arrival at Bengal, where I sincerely hope
you and Mr. Hickey enjoy good health and find Calcutta answer
your expectations. This is the hearty and cordial wish of your
firm friend. I have the inexpressible pleasure to inform you of
the long and much wished for peace. Yesterday a man-of-war
of sixty-four guns arrived here from Europe, bringing the glad
tidings. Likewise, that two Indiamen left Johanna four days
before she did, so that we are in hourly expectation of seeing
them. There has been sad and melancholy doings at Cuddalore,
many lives lost on both sides without any material advantage
to the respective powers at variance. Poor Cotgrove, a most
worthy body, fell from a mistake of our own people. This
naturally dull spot affords nothing new or entertaining to write
about. Undoubtedly we are as stupid as we can wish or desire !
The Taner family leave the Presidency hi a few days, going to a
far-distant province. Mrs. Latham precisely in the same situa-
tion that you left her. Her sister, Lady Gordon, poor dear, has
been and continues materially indisposed. I shall expect
volumes of news from you who reside in the midst of elegant
gaiety and festivity. I very seldom see Mr. Popham, entre nous,
he is a strange oddity. The few merits he has are infinitely
outweighed by his peculiarities. I must not presume to use a

176 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

stronger word. Adieu, Mr. Barclay joins me in kind compli-
ments and best wishes to you and Mr. Hickey.
And believe me, my dear Mrs. Hickey,

Your sincere and ever affectionate friend,

AUGUSTA BARCLAY."

The following was from Mrs. Garrow :

" MADRAS, Zlst July, 1783.

" MY DEAR MRS. HICKEY,

I have received your letter and am very happy to hear
of your safe arrival in Bengal after so uncommonly bad and
disagreeable a passage as you had, but you was most fortunate
in meeting with such a man in the command of the ship as
Captain Serocold. I make no doubt but you will like your
situation, as I hear the inhabitants of Bengal are much more
sociably disposed than we hum-drum Madrassers. To add to
your society there are a great many ladies arrived here whose
final destination is your quarter. Many of them are single, and
some very pretty, really beautiful. I have not yet been to see
any of them, being, as you well know, a sad visitor. I hear
nothing talked of now but the fashions ! It is reckoned the height
of indelicacy to show the ear or any part of it ; the hair is
therefore cut in such a manner as wholly to cover that part of
the head, not even the tip must be seen. For my own part I am
very well satisfied with the old custom, and too sedate to adopt
every absurd and preposterous innovation.

I called lately upon Lady Gordon and delivered your message.
I never saw anything like the alteration that has taken place
in her appearance. Poor woman, she has been alarmingly ill,
and this last attack has increased her eager desire to leave this
sultry place and return to Europe. Her sister is considerably
better, so much so that she daily goes out in a carriage for air
and exercise. Our friend, Mrs. Barclay, told me she had written
to you, and she would, I am sure, give you all the news and
little occurrences of Fort St. George. Mr. Garrow joins me in
best wishes to Mr. Hickey and you.

I remain,

Yours very sincerely,

S. GARROW."

" P.S. — I return you many thanks for your kind offer to
assist me with any little articles I may want from Bengal, and
for which I certainly will take the liberty of applying to you."

MORE LETTERS TO CHARLOTTE 177

Mr. Josias Du Pre Porcher's letter was in these words :

" MY VERY DEAR MADAM,

If you recollect I often told you that you would forget
your promise of writing to me, and I am sorry to add I was too
true a prophet. In revenge I shall plague you continually with
my scrawls, which are always dry and therefore happily adapted
to the purpose. Hickey, I hope, is as busy as possible, for I
wish both so well in spite of your usage of me that nothing
would give me greater pleasure than to hear he is in a fair way
of soon completing his business. After all, this is but a poor
country, and certainly not an agreable one for a lady. On
your return to England you must positively call here, and if at
that time I possess a house good enough for your ladyship I
shall insist upon you being my guest. Besides a settled deter-
mination to tease you, I have an additional motive for writing
this, which is to introduce the gentleman who will deliver it to
you. I do not hesitate requesting you and Hickey to show him
a little civility on my account, the compliance with which will
in some measure induce me to forgive you. I think I hear you
say that I am grown impertinent and sauoy, possibly it is true,
but be assured I still possess the greatest esteem for you, and
this is the only excuse I can make for my freedom. To return
to my young friend who bears this : I have long lived in habits
of friendship with his family, for whom I have an high regard.
They have a right to expect every attention from me, and I feel
pleased at transferring those attentions from them to their son.
I have promised him a smile from you, and I trust you will not,
indeed it is not in your nature to, disappoint him. He has a
brother in Calcutta who he may probably take occasion to in-
troduce to you. I wish . . . but I will ask no more favours
at present, one in all reason is sufficient. Pray remember me
most kindly to Hickey, and believe me, as I am, with truth, my
dear madam,

Your hearty well wisher and most obedient servant,

J. Du PRE PORCHER."

FORT ST. GEORGE,

10ft August, 1783.

" I had nearly forgot to mention the name of the gentleman
who I have thus taken the liberty to introduce to you. It is
Fletcher."

III.— N

178 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

Then came another from Mrs. Barclay :

" MADRAS,
20th November, 1783.

" MY DEAR MRS. HICKEY,

You judge right in supposing my long silence proceeded
from indisposition. I have been exceedingly ill with a severe
bilious fever which for some time made me quite indifferent
about everything, nor could I bring myself even to set down to
write to you, my friend. I hope the truth thus really stated will
be a sufficient apology. I can give you very little news from
this place. We have a ball monthly, by subscription, which
makes us rather less dull than heretofore ; no marriages on foot
nor any talked of. I do not recollect whether Miss Maule became
Mrs. Wickens before you left us. On his side I believe it was
more a match of interest than love. She appears several years
older than her hubby. Rather unfortunate that ! Proposals
for a concert are going about ; how long it will last who shall
presume to say. Many of the performers, both vocal and in-
strumental, must necessarily be ladies and gentlemen. It will
be an agreable way of passing what otherwise might hastily
be pronounced a stupid evening. I am sorry you do not like
Bengal, which I plainly perceive is the case. Many thanks for
your kind invitation, perhaps when you perform your promise
of visiting me at Fort St. George I may return with you to the
far-famed Fort William. Your little admirer, Doctor Lucas, is
quite happy, for his fair rib will shortly be here. I am told that
the beauteous widow Maclellan is shortly to become the wife
of one of our Coast Gentlemen. I think she has no great reason
to be over pleased with the galantry of Bengal.

Your friend, Mr. Popham, is become quite gay, only think of
his dancing until morning at the last ball. Nothing like it, you
will say. Lady Gordon and her sweet little ones are gone home
on a man-of-war. Mrs. Latham is quite recovered and talks of
following her sister's example as soon as she is able to procure
a passage. Mrs. Johnson is very well, but I apprehend Mr.
Johnson, poor fellow, is not long for this world. Mrs. Garrow
told me she had written to you some time ago. She is perfectly
well. The Crocodile from Bengal is just anchored in the roads.
Pretty daring of her captain to venture here in the height of
the monsoon. Advices have just been received here from
Anjingo giving an account of the total loss of the admiral's

CHARLOTTE'S SHOPPING 179

flagship, the Superb, which foundered off the Island of Ceylon.
Most fortunately the whole of the ship's crew were saved. By
the same route letters are come from England of so late a date
as the 4th of June. By these letters a report is mentioned that
a Bill was immediately to be introduced into Parliament by the
Lord Advocate of Scotland, empowering the Government to
undertake the management of the Company's affairs, and
which measure it was supposed was not likely to meet with much
opposition. The latter our politicians and sage heads in this
place seem to doubt the probability of. Indeed, so do I ! Adieu,
I feel that I have exhausted your patience. This moment
Captain Thomas has brought me your kind letter, for which
accept my best thanks. It affords me real and sincere satis-
faction to hear that your health is compleatly established. That
you may long enjoy it is the cordial wish of your sincerely

attached friend. ~>

AUGA, BARCLAY.

In the latter end of September Mr. and Mrs. Hesilrige
left Calcutta to spend some time with different friends of
theirs up the country, particularly Sir John D'Oyly and his
lady at Moorshedabad, where the Baronet rilled the high and
lucrative post of Resident at the Durbar of the Nabob, a
situation to the succession of which my friend, Robert Pott,
had procured the appointment from the Court of Directors
previous to his leaving London, and which he had so obtained
upon the personal application of Lord Thurlow, at that
time Lord Chancellor.

The departure of Mr. Hesilrige 's family from the Resi-
dency was a serious loss to my darling Charlotte, who had
spent much of her time with Mrs. Hesilrige. A few days
previous to that lady's setting out upon the excursion she
one morning took Mrs. Hickey a-shopping, going to a number
of different ones kept by Bengallees in the China Bazaar,
in all of which Mrs. Hesilrige tumbled over the goods without
laying out a single rupee, to the extreme annoyance of my
dear girl, who never could bear to give trouble' without
making some sort of compensation, under which impression
she took from a shop, wherein her fair companion had been
particularly troublesome and bought nothing, a couple of

180 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM KICKED

pieces of Europe ribbon though not at all in want of them,
of which circumstance she told me the moment she got home,
but it escaped my recollection, to which it was brought back
in a manner not the most agreeable three days after the
purchase, when I received a letter signed " Sol. Hamilton,
Attorney at Law," saying if I did not immediately pay
thirty-two sicca rupees for two pieces of ribbon, due to
Gopee Day, together with five sicca rupees, the costs of that
application, an action would forthwith be commenced
against me in the Supreme Court for the recovery
thereof.

Indignant at such a demand for so paltry a sum I wrote
an answer to the blackguard attorney in a style that galled
him to the quick, accompanying my letter with the amount
required. I also shewed this elegant epistle to the judges,
to every officer of the Court, and to the most respectable
gentlemen of the settlement, who one and all expressed
their disapprobation. The mean wretch made the most
abject apologies, protesting it was inadvertence, entirely
the fault of his clerk, who brought the letter to him to sign
with a variety of other papers, to all of which he put his
name without looking at them. In reply I merely observed
that it was disgraceful in him as a professional man to
acknowledge he ever fixed his name to a paper he had not
first read. From that day I always avoided having any
intercourse with Colonel Watson's " shrewd attorney,"
Solomon Hamilton.

Early in the month of November the subscription As-
semblies for the season commenced. Beaux without number
proffered their services to escort Mrs. Hickey, whom I en-
deavoured to dissuade from going from her indifferent state
of health, but my entreaties and arguments were all thrown
away. Nothing short of a positive command would I saw
be observed, and so strong a measure I did not like to use.
She assured me she felt considerably better and stronger
than she had been, and was quite sure it would do her no
harm. All the ladies of her acquaintance encouraged her
to be at least present, even if she had fortitude enough to

HOURS OF PAIN 181

resist dancing, an amusement she was remarkably fond of
and which she excelled in. Indeed they could not see any
serious objection to her partaking of a couple of dances, but
that I did take upon me peremptorily to forbid.

Before the month of November was over Mrs. Hie key's
health became evidently worse, although she would not
confine herself to the house nor admit that she was so ill
as to require either particular care or the advice of physi-
cians, but I, who anxiously watching, perceived an almost
daily increased weakness and languor, insisted upon her
receiving Doctor James Stark, then the favourite prac-
titioner of Calcutta, and I accordingly summoned him.
After asking her a variety of questions he wrote a prescrip-
tion, recommending her continuing quiet at home and not
to have any large parties for some days at least. All which
conditions she reluctantly yielded to. During her confine-
ment, as my business necessarily occupied much of my time,
I was glad to find our friends exceedingly attentive, several
ladies coming to sit with her a great part of the day. Bob
Pott often called, contributing much to raise and keep up
her spirits by his extraordinary cheerfulness and vivacity.
Very early in December we were deprived of his agreeable
society by his being appointed Chief of the District of
Burdwan, a place about sixty-five miles distant from
Calcutta, then considered one of the most lucrative situa-
tions in the Civil Service, but which Robert notwithstanding
affected to dislike and to be offended with Mr. Hastings for
giving him so insignificant and paltry an office, he loudly
declaring the Governor-General ought to have turned out
Sir John D'Oyly from the Residency at the Nabob's Durbar
at Moorshedabad and put him into it, he having been
nominated thereto by the Court of Directors, a presumption
and expectation of Pott's that certainly was unreasonable
in the extreme.

My poor Charlotte's hours of pain and lassitude were
further beguiled by the good-humoured letters of Mr. Hesil-
rige, who, whilst on his excursion up the country, addressed
the following to her :

182 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

"It is with much pleasure, my dearest madam, that I
avail myself of the indulgence you granted me of writing to
you. I cannot recollect an instance of my commencing a corre-
spondence with so much satisfaction as I do the present. I
promise myself every advantage from it, whilst I cannot but
regret that the liberality of nature has not put it in my power
to make you an adequate return. In the epistolary style your
sex certainly possess every advantage over us. You have a
delicacy in the manner of expressing your sentiments to which
we have never attained, whilst the beauty, ease, and elegance
for which you are so much admired shine conspicuous through-
out your writings. This being the case in general, what may I
not expect from you who so much excel in every polite accom-
plishment, and was it not for the prospect of being upon the
most friendly footing with you as a neighbour upon my return
to Calcutta, I should exceedingly regret that my absence from
thence promises to be of so short a duration. Was it not that
I am upon the point of re-visiting a very valuable wife I confess
I should be somewhat melancholy in my solitary Budgerow.
Indeed, I sometimes suspect that I actually am so, for my
companions, who are of the canine race, look up in my face with
dejected countenances, and absolutely appear low-spirited.
Now, as I believe I do not in general deserve to be dignified with
the Spanish Don's title of ' Knight of the sorrowful counten-
ance,' I know not how to account for this unless it is that these
sagacious animals perceive that I am less cheerful than usual.
But now, my sweet little woman (There's for you !), can I be
otherwise after quitting so lively and so inspiring a society
as that to which I devoted almost my whole time in Calcutta.
Hickey may say, if he pleases, that I am making downright
love, and in due form ! I care not a button what he says, but
this I will say that I never was happier than when in Mrs.
Hickey's company ; that I admire and esteem her, and set the
greatest value upon her friendship. You see that I have been
only three days from Calcutta, and that I am already advanced
on my way to Rangamatty as far as Nuddea.

I should have written to you before had there been a post
office upon the way into which I could have put a letter. It
would have been an interesting amusement to me to have done
so, for absent as I am from my friends I assure you time often
hangsjieavy upon my hands. I rise early in the morning and
amuse myself until towards eight o'clock (when the day begins

MR. HESILRIGE'S LETTERS 183

to be oppressively hot) with my gun. I then breakfast and kill
the middle hours as well as I can with books or my pen, writing
letters to relations in Europe who care quite as little for me as
I do for them. I dine at two, and as I do not profess to sleep
in the afternoon, only nap it from half -past three to five, about
which time I go on shore to walk on the banks of the river until
dusk. I next drink tea, and smoke my hookah until eight,
when I sup and retire to bed about the time that I conceive
Bradford is entering your hall with his usual smiling coun-
tenance, or the gentle Stackhouse looking languishingly upon
a certain lady who shall be nameless.

I think you would have been pleased could you have made
the little excursion that we once talked of. The weather has
been delightfully pleasant, and although at this season of the year
the face of the country is not altogether so beautiful as during the
rains, still you would have been much pleased with the infinite
variety of scenes the river affords. In point of mere prospect
Bengal has little to boast. It admits of no other diversity
than what a different disposition of wood and water can be
supposed to give to a flat country, but it is so highly cultivated
and so very populous that it at once conveys to you the pleasing
idea of peace, plenty, and content. The party should have been
composed of none but your particular friends, and every one
would, I am certain, have exerted themselves to amuse you. I
hope, however, for Mr. Rickey's sake that things are better as
they are, for I take so warm a part in his welfare that I would
at all times give up every consideration of self for his advantage.

I much regret that I forgot to ask you for the book you
promised to lend me. Having with me only Priestly on matter
and spirit, the gentleman is endeavouring to persuade me that
I have no soul, and that we have all laboured under a mistake
in supposing that we had anything immortal about us. If
Tolfrey never puns, pray ask him for his opinion upon this
subject. It will afford him a fine opportunity of entering into
a most learned dissertation, such a one as I conceive must be
equally edifying and entertaining. Besides, it may give him
occasion to make a digression (which he likes to do) to the
Beauties of Sentiment ! The Charms of Society ! The Harmony
of Souls ! and he may conclude by labouring to convince you
that there is such a thing as platonic affection ! These are
matters I never attempt to discuss myself, conscious of my
inability for so doing ; I therefore leave those knotty points

184 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

to men of superior talents or understanding. Sufficient is it
for me that I have started a topic. By this time I may fairly
presume you think that I have written quite enough for one
letter. Indeed, I cannot entertain a doubt upon that head.
I hope, however, that as Lady D'Oyly did by my singing you
will not lay an injunction upon me ' not to favour you with any
more of it ! ' for although I am ready to admit that I write the
greatest nonsense in the world, and that my letters are in general
hardly legible, nevertheless I am fond of writing to those I
feel a regard for. Permit me, my dear madam, to remind you
of your promise and beg the favour of you to direct to me at
Sir John D'Oyly's, Afzoulbang. My best respects attend Mr.
Hickey, and I have the pleasure to subscribe myself with every
sentiment of esteem, my dear madam,

Your very obedient and devoted humble servant,

ARTHUR HESILRIGE."

" MY DEAR MADAM,

I have been not a little flattered by the receipt of your
letter, and notwithstanding your threats, of which the parties
are apprized, I beg leave to renew to you my assurances of the
sincerest attachment and regard. Permit me also to tell you
that I am not a little proud of my new correspondent, and am
very far from being disappointed in my expectations. Your
letter was exactly what I could have wished it, and if I possessed
half the vanity which you sometimes laid to my charge I should
on my return to the Presidency be insupportable to half your
Beaus. However, I will say nothing further upon the subject
lest you should again pretend to be angry, for I should, I sup-
pose, be pronounced a most impertinent fellow if I was to tell
you that I am convinced the anger was a mere pretence. Not,
by the by, that I recollect a syllable in my last letter that could
be construed into the most distant degree of flattery. I en-
deavoured to express my genuine sentiments, nor can I tax my
memory with having used a single expression the whole force
of which I did not feel at the time. It gives me much pleasure
to inform you that upon my arrival here I found my better half,
as I am convinced you will without much difficulty allow her
to be, in good health. The air of Rangamatty has agreed so
surprizingly well with her that I think she now enjoys as good
a state of health as she has ever done since I had the happiness

ME. HESILRIGE'S LETTERS 185

of knowing her. She begs me to present her best respects to you,
and to assure you that she shall consider herself not a little
flattered in possessing your esteem which on her part has already
commenced, and that nothing shall be wanting to encrease and
cultivate an acquaintance from whence she truly hopes will
proceed the strictest intimacy and the sincerest friendship. We
shall certainly leave Belvidere on Tuesday next, but I fear that
we shall be some time in getting down to Calcutta as the river
is, I understand, very low, having fallen two feet within the
last three days. I do not, however, despair of having the honour
of kissing your hand by the Monday or Tuesday following at
farthest. We are both equally anxious to get back, for though
no society can be more cheerful than that of Belvidere, and
though Sir John and Lady D'Oyly study to make their visitors
happy, yet, after all, there is no place like one's own home, and
however engaging pleasure and dissipation may be for a time
they at last lose their charms, and we all willingly revert to the
calm domestic scene which is in no part of the world so con-
spicuous as in Calcutta. I have a great inclination to write a
lecture upon the sweets of retirement, but as my ink is wretchedly
bad and pen still worse, and having no means of rectifying
either one or the other, I believe I may as well postpone the
attempt until a future day, so for the present, my dear madam,
adieu. My kindest remembrances, if you please, to Mr. Hickey,
and pray tell him not to despond. Surely if he finds reason to
be low-spirited I ought to hang, drown, or shoot myself. We
may be poor spite of ourselves, but let us at least be merry.
Apropos, I hope you have no more fits, except it be of laughing,
and of those long may you live to enjoy very many.
I am, my dearest madam,

Your most devoted and most obedient servant,

A. HESILRIGE."

" 1st November, 1783.
" MY DEAR MADAM,

As is usually the case when there is a large party we have
experienced innumerable stoppages and vexatious delays, nor
did we get fairly clear of Moorshedabad until Thursday last.
We are now parading down the stream of the Cossimbuzar
River with seventeen pinnaces and Budgerows, besides an

186 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

immense tra^n of boats of all descriptions, consequently our
progress is slow, nor will it be possible for us to reach Calcutta
so early as I expected by some days. These immense parties
are to me by no means agreable. I am not over fond of a
croud on shore, and still less so for any length of time upon
the water. A select society of attached friends, half a dozen,
for instance, has in my opinion more charms beyond com-
parison. Yet vanity is gratified by parade, and even men of
superior understanding are too prone to be dazzled by mock
pageantry. In England it answers very well with the common
people, and points have often been carried by imposing upon
the vulgar with pomp and show. In this country it may have a
still greater effect, as the lower class of people think less. I am
therefore in a certain degree an advocate for state where it can
produce a beneficial effect, but in the instance that calls forth
these remarks I can see no possible benefit to be gained, and
cannot help feeling mortified when I see a much valued friend
and most worthy man so lavish of expence to answer no one good
end or purpose unless it be the ridiculous and unjustifiable one
of attempting to feed the follies and gratify the consummate
vanity of an inconsiderate woman. You, as a lady of superior
prudence, a virtue I fear not often met with in your sex, will,
I am convinced, be of my way of thinking, and would prefer,
did an opportunity offer which should afford a prospect of
returning in a few years to your native country, the living at a
moderate expence to an absurd profusion which might detain
you many years longer in India. You must perceive that at
present I have no cause to complain of being solitary, as we set
down at table every day twenty in number and our time glides
on very agreably. Still, I wish to be at home, though I may
be disappointed in my expectation of being happier there, as
the learned seem to have agreed that happiness is ideal, and that
consequently we may be so in any place if we can but make up
our minds to it. But begging their worships' pardon, according
to my notion of things, this is not so easily done, and if I am not
much mistaken the most sanguine supporters of the doctrine
would have felt as much, if not more, in our old friend Robinson
Crusoe's situation than he did. You were, I hope, prodigiously
amused at the Assembly. Being the first, I presume it was
consequently brilliant, and I doubt not the Stewards did every-
thing in their power to give general satisfaction. As many
spinsters were on that evening to make their debut in white, I

THE END OF MR. HESILRIGE 187

think it would have been obliging in the gentlemen to have
allowed them to adopt the colour of their dresses to their com-
plexions, but I am told a Favour would be deemed sufficient.
Your superior taste in dress is so universally admitted that it is
doing you no more than justice to conclude that yours was the
most elegant, if not the most costly, in the room. I hope on
some future night to have the honour of being in your suite ;
to be your beau I cannot have the presumption to aspire to,
being an old married man, which is no recommendation to the
ladies. You must know I am become quite sober and sedate,
like some other folks, too, I am kept in admirable order. You
will be convinced when you see me again that I want nothing
but a full-bottomed wig to complete the gravity of my demeanour.
With or without a peruke, I am at all times your ires humble
serviteur. My Rib desires her best respects to you, and I beg
mine to Mr. Hickey.

I remain, with real regard, my dear madam,
Your very sincere and obedient servant,

A. HESILRIGE."

" AUGURDEEP,

Sunday.

" May I trouble you to send a servant with the enclosed to
Mr. Sherburne. It is to request him to send my phaeton to
Cosspore for us next Sunday evening. Adieu."

The writer of the foregoing letters succeeded his father
as a baronet, shortly prior to which his wife had been
obliged to return to Europe for the recovery of her health.
During her absence he became so greatly embarrassed in
his affairs that one of his principal creditors, a native,
arrested him, whereupon he, very properly resolving not to
pay one to the prejudice of the rest, upon the return of the
writ surrendered himself in discharge of his bail and went
to prison, where Mrs. Hesilrige, upon again going to India,
found him. This mortifying circumstance, added to her
health not being perfectly restored, preyed so much upon
her as to produce a decline, which in about eight months
terminated in her death . Shortly before that event, however,

188 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

Mr. Hesilrige had obtained his liberty. Soon after his
coming to the title he was so inconsiderate as once more to
engage in the holy state of matrimony, marrying a wild and
giddy girl of fifteen, daughter to Mrs. Grey, the sister of
Sir Home Popham's lady, Sir Arthur being then con-
siderably on the wrong side of forty. From the variety
of ill consequences arising from so foolish and unequal a
match he was relieved by a bilious fever's taking him out
of the world about five years ago, within six months after
which event his wanton widow consoled herself in the arms
of a handsome young lieutenant of infantry in the Company's
service of the name of Wilkinson, who became her second
husband.

CHAPTER XIV

THE DEATH OF CHARLOTTE

UPON my return from England in the year 1783 and again
settling in Calcutta and resuming the practice of an at-
torney, I applied to those gentlemen that had been members
of the committee for conducting the business of the petition
to Parliament for trial by jury in civil cases to reimburse
me the expences I had incurred in conveying such petition
to England, etc., some of which gentlemen were well dis-
posed to comply with my demand, considering the same as
just and reasonable. At the head of those feeling and
declaring their opinion thus stood my zealous advocate
upon all occasions, Colonel Watson ; but Colonel Pearse,
who had then just returned from the coast of Coromandel,
Mr. Shore and others, opposing it, not, as they declared,
from any personal enmity towards me, but from conceiving
they were not individually liable to be so called upon, the
just intentions of Colonel Watson and those equally well
disposed were frustrated. Two of my warmest friends also
were lost to me, Mr. Cottrell being dead and Mr. Higginson
embarked for Europe.

Thus situated I was driven to the necessity of applying
to the Supreme Court for redress, but previous to so doing
I prepared and submitted my case to counsel, therein truly
stating every particular relative to it, especially that of
having not only given up my time and professional assist-
ance entirely to the committee for more than two months
prior to my sailing for England, but having likewise dis-
bursed large sums of money in paying the Keeper of the
Records and different officers of the Court for a great
variety of copies of official documents which it had been

189

190 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

deemed requisite to procure in the progress of the petition,
and which had I made out a bill for as an attorney would
have amounted to more than the sum I now demanded.

Upon this case I got an opinion most clearly and decidedly
in my favour, saying I was indisputably entitled not only
to a pecuniary remuneration for my personal attendance
and services upon the committee as an attorney, but also
a complete reimbursement of all sums of money I had
expended for the advancement of the object in hand, but
that as I had no written instrument to shew the nature of
the contract subsisting between me and the committee I
must necessarily have recourse to a Bill in Equity against
those persons who had employed me, the prayer of which
Bill must be to compel them to a specific performance of
their parol agreement made with me. The opinion added
that special care must be taken not to omit any of those
names who ought to be defendants, otherwise I might be
defeated by a demurrer for want of parties.

I accordingly prepared a Bill in Equity, laying the
draught thereof before Mr. Brix, an experienced advocate
of the Court, for his perusal and signature, who returned it
the ensuing day without making the least alteration, accom-
panying it with a complimentary letter, wherein he was
pleased to say it was by far the ablest and best -drawn plead-
ing that ever had been laid before him, to which therefore
he affixed his name with peculiar satisfaction, feeling con-
vinced I could not fail of obtaining that redress the hardships
of my case so eminently called for. The Bill being engrossed
was filed and a subpoena for the defendants to appear and
answer issued.

Just at that time my dearest Charlotte's situation became
more critical. I observed her daily becoming weaker. With
anxiety inexpressible I summoned Doctors Stark and
Wilson to meet at my house and consult upon her case.
They did so. The result was their advising me immediately
to take her upon the river for a few days and try what effect
change of air might produce. I caused a large and com-
modious boat to be forthwith prepared. On the 7th of

CHARLOTTE'S FATAL ILLNESS 191

December, carefully conveying her on board, we proceeded
to Budge Budge, where my valuable friend Major Mestayer
received us into his hospitable mansion with all his accus-
tomed and kind liberality. During the first four-and-twenty
hours of being there my dear woman became somewhat
better, but then rapidly fell off and, expressing much solici-
tude to be at home, on the fifth morning we re -embarked
and returned to Calcutta, where I landed her vastly weaker
than when she left it and in every respect worse. Still,
neither of the medical gentlemen considered her as being
in actual danger.

While I was at Budge Budge Mr. Morse had been appointed
Sheriff, which office he was to enter upon the duties of on
the 20th. According to his promise he nominated me his
Deputy or Under-Sheriff, but I was so engaged in watching
my darling, whom I saw gradually and fast sinking, that 1
could think of nothing else. She would not allow that she
was at all worse, though compelled to admit she suffered
greatly. All patience and resignation, she bore a painful
disease with a degree of fortitude unexampled, never when
I was present uttering a complaint or even a sigh, lest it
should increase my unhappiness.

On the 10th Doctor Stark, for the first time, told me he
apprehended his patient in extreme danger, that so alarming
a change for the worse had taken place in the preceding
night he saw no hope left, and her death, even in a few hours,
would not surprize him ! This was horrible tidings, nor can
I attempt to describe the grief with which it overwhelmed
me. During the succeeding night I never for a moment
quitted her bedside, though she repeatedly urged me in the
strongest manner her enfeebled state would admit to retire
and take some rest. Rest, alas ! was wholly out of the ques-
tion. The 20th she continued nearly the same. On that
day I was under the indispensable necessity of going out
to the gaol to receive charge of the prisoners, civil and
criminal, examine the lists and state of the prison, etc., with
the ex-sheriff. Oh ! what a morning, did I pass. I scarcely
knew what I said or did, and was in a constant tremor

192 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

from the momentary expectation of the fatal event being
announced.

The assignments and various deeds to which I was a party
being executed, Mr. Morse considerately insisted upon my
going home instead of to the Sheriff's office, and not to
bestow a thought on business until Mrs. Hie key should be
better. Alas : too sure did I feel that time would never
arrive, for that I was doomed to the misery of losing her.
Upon going home I found her nothing worse. On entering
the room she languidly smiled, held out her emaciated hand,
saying she was not in quite so great pain. I could perceive
this was only said for the purpose of comforting me. Thus
she continued four more days. In the morning of the 25th
(a fatal Christmas Day to my happiness) after about three
hours of perturbed, uneasy sleep procured from large doses
of laudanum, she awoke, when seeing me hanging over her
in an agony of grief she cast a mournful look upon me, then
raised her poor arms and, drawing me towards her, kissed
me with her almost clay-cold lips — such a kiss as I never
can forget ! The effect of it is indelibly engraved upon my
memory, never to be effaced ! In a faint and scarcely
audible voice she bid me be comforted and submit to the
fiat of the Almighty, said she had dreamt she was delivered
of eleven children, the terror of which had awakened her,
that she should soon be well and relieved from excruciating
suffering. After a long pause she again entreated that I
would not repine at what was unavoidable, adding, " God
bless you, my dearest William, God bless you ! Oh, leave
me, leave me ! " and fainted. The physicians entered at
that moment, when Doctor Wilson exclaimed, " 'Tis all
over. She's gone." This was the last I saw of her. They
forced me from the apartment and the house. She con-
tinued to breathe, but without any other sign of existence,
until ten o'clock at night, when with a gentle sigh she
expired.

It is those only who have truly loved and survived to
mourn the loss of all they held dear upon earth that can
conceive the agonies I endured. My sorrow yielded not to

SINCERELY LOVED AND TRULY MOURNED 193

the exhortations of numerous friends who with the most
humane intention endeavoured to console me, bidding me
reflect that she was released and happy ! But such reflections
had no power to conquer my regret or reconcile me to the
sad event. On the contrary, they increased, they embit-
tered, the severity of my pangs. In many instances did I
verify the truth of the observation that " when we first
conceive we clasp pleasure to our breast we in fact invite
the stings of pain." Upon obtaining the uninterrupted
possession of my adored Charlotte I thought of naught but
supreme felicity, a felicity that proved of short duration,
being checked almost every day of my life by an anxiety
the most excruciating and distressing on her account. When
the cruel hand of death seized upon her, then it was I felt,
oh most keenly felt, the horror of my situation and the dismal
loss I had sustained in being suddenly deprived of so much
excellence. Safely may I say I truly, fondly loved her,
loved her with an affection that every new day, if possible,
strengthened. Our tastes were similar, our foundation of
happiness depended upon each other ; kindred feeling was
the standard of both, and we were perfectly satisfied each
with the other. Her funeral took place on the 26th, every
respectful attention being shewn to her memory. Her
remains were followed to its last sad mansion by a host of
friends of both sexes, who sincerely loved and respected her
living and truly mourned her dead.

After shutting myself up entirely secluded in a room at
Tolfrey's, Mr. Morse, and some others equally attached to
me, entered the apartment and in a great measure forced
me to join them in the hall. They next urged me to leave
Calcutta, where every object I saw continually reminded me
of the irreparable loss I had sustained. The idea of change
of scene was at least soothing, and I resolved to follow the
well-intended advice.

Amongst the earliest of those who offered their condolence
upon my domestic misfortune was Robert Pott, who recom-
mended my directly proceeding to him at Bur d wan, where
every person of his family would unite in endeavouring to
in.— o

194 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

alleviate my grief. On the 30th (of December) I therefore
set off, reaching his house to breakfast the following morning.
Whilst his guest I derived a melancholy satisfaction in
expressing my grateful acknowledgments to the medical
gentlemen who had with unremitting zeal attended and
exerted their skill, though unhappily without success, to
save my lamented love, likewise in addressing those friends
whose kindnesses were unceasing, and as my recent heavy
loss rendered me indifferent to all worldly matters I at once
acceded to an offer that had been made a fortnight before,
through Mr. Petrie, to leave the question between me and
the committee for the petition to Parliament to the arbi-
tration of two friends, one to be chosen by them, the other
by me, or, if I chose it, both to be of my nomination. I
accordingly wrote to Mr. Petrie to that effect, who answered
me thus :

" DEAR SIR,

I have this moment received your favour of this date,
and do not hesitate to own that I am well pleased for many
reasons that the affair has now taken so amicable a turn, and
will be settled without any further trouble to either party. I
cannot deny that I was hurt at some things that had passed,
because I was not conscious of meriting them as an individual,
and because I would willingly have given twenty times the
amount demanded had I seen it in the light you did, rather than
have refused under a conviction of your right to it.

Every person pretending to humanity must have felt your
late misfortune and have pitied you under the severest of human
woes. To offer consolation whilst the heart yet bleeds would
be fruitless, but we may be permitted to observe that giving
way to unavailing grief is both sinful and unmanly. May God
comfort you.

Your sincere and obedient servant,

JOHN PETRIE."

Friday Evening.

" I will endeavour to see Major Metcalfe who has consented
to act as one of the arbitrators, and get him to fix a time for
meeting Mr. Morse, whom you mention as the other."

CONDOLENCES AND HELP 195

The following was Mr. Morse's answer to an application
I made to him to be my arbitrator :

" MY GOOD FRIEND,

I will act as an arbitrator with all my heart. Never
think of the sheriff's office until you feel fully equal to the
attendance. In the interim I can manage very well, or if I
should want assistance can call upon Stackhouse Tolfrey, who
has more than once tendered his services to act for you. I beg
you will try to bear your misfortune with fortitude. The re-
collection of her great goodness ought to be a source of con-
solation to you. She is now happy, and it is all in all better
that you are thus early separated than after twenty years'
experience of her merits.

Believe me at all times,

Yours very faithfully,

R. MORSE."

Captain Serocold of the Tortoise addressed me in these
words :

" MY DEAR SIR,

I can easily imagine the very great distress you must
undergo from the heavy loss you have sustained in the death
of that worthy and affectionate woman, your late wife. I heard
of her decease with heartfelt concern, for I believe her to have
been as excellent a creature as ever lived. The less said on this
distressing subject the better. I am obliged to go down to the
Tortoise to-morrow, on my return I shall make a point of seeing
you.

With sincere regard,
I am ever yours,

WALTER SEROCOLD."

Mr. Frushard wrote thus :

" MY DEAR SIR,

Mrs. Frushard 's heart smote her for so unwarily bringing
you into company last night. You will, I am sure, do her the
justice to believe it was not her fault. She had desired to be
denied to all visitors, but the stupid servants misunderstood her.

196 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

I very readily conceive that it is yet too early days for you to
attend to the dictates of philosophy or to listen to the soothings
of friendship. Still, I wish you not to forgo them altogether.
You should embrace a seasonable amusement sometimes, and
allow me to assure you that when you do feel yourself strong
enough you will make us particularly happy in being one with
us. That comfort may be given you from whence alone it flows
is the ardent prayer of,

My dear sir, your sincerely affected
And obedient servant,

JAMES FEUSHAED."

The following was from the clergyman who performed
the funeral service :

" Sm,

I was favoured with your obliging and affecting letter
on Saturday evening, but was so particularly engaged as to be
unable to write in the way I wished, for yours spoke the genuine
language of the warmest sensibility. The extraordinary duty
I had yesterday, with some unforeseen engagements afterwards,
must apologise for my not doing it before this morning. In
reply, my good sir, I can only say that you have been too kind
in your acknowledgment for what was only my duty, and under
that idea I wished to have returned what I found enclosed,
but concluded that I was not sufficiently acquainted with you
to be convinced, or even to suppose that such a measure would
be so agreeable to you as my acceptance of it. Be pleased, sir,
to accept my most sincere condolence, and believe me when I
assure you that I had long a desire to become acquainted with
the late Mrs. Hickey and yourself, but a variety of circum-
stances obliged me to defer being introduced until my return
from a five weeks' trip with my young ladies towards Patna,
and soon after such return I heard of the good lady's indis-
position. When you shall have begun to receive the visits of
your friends I intend myself the satisfaction of paying my
respects to you,

And am with real esteem, sir,

Your most obedient humble servant,
T. BLANSHAED."

AN AWARD FOR RELEASE OF CLAIMS 197

Doctor Wilson's :

" DEAB SIR,

Permit me to return my sincere thanks for your kind
present. Be assured I shall always consider myself the more
obliged to you for the high sense you must have had of my
attention in sending me the very handsome ring with Mrs.
Rickey's hair, and I beg you to believe my not having called
upon you arose from no other cause than my being so truly
hurt at the irreparable loss you have sustained.
I am, my dear sir,

Your obliged and obedient,

JAS. WILSON."

Doctor Stark's :

" MY DEAR SIR,

I have received your very genteel present and return
you many thanks. It is perfectly sufficient for every purpose,
and I only regret that my best exertions were attended with
so little success on behalf of an object so deservedly dear to my
friend, and so much to be lamented by all those who had the
happiness of her acquaintance.

I am, my dear sir,

Ever yours,

JAMES STARK."
" Monday."

The arbitrators to whom my demand on the committee
was referred made the following award :

" Thomas Theophilus Metcalfe and Robert Morse having
met as Arbitrators to determine upon a case in dispute between
certain gentlemen of Calcutta, known by the name of the com-
mittee appointed for certain purposes, on the one part, and
William Hickey on the other, and read and examined with
attention the several papers laid before us, do determine that
the said committee shall pay to the said William Hickey the
sum of sicca rupees three thousand, and order their agents in
England to cancel his note to them for one hundred pounds,

198 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

and that the said William Hickey shall execute a full and com-
plete general release to the committee aforesaid. Given under
our hands and seals this 16th day of January, 1784.

THOMAS T. METCALFE.

R. MORSE."

Sealed and delivered in the presence of

J. HENNES.

R. PHILIP WESP."

The above sum I immediately received, and so ended the
business of the petition to Parliament for trial by jury in
civil cases, as far as it related to me individually.

Pott exerted himself in various ways to make me forget
my misfortune. He carried me about to the different
gentlemen of the neighbourhood and to a beautiful hunting
seat he had built about twelve miles distant from his house
at Burdwan, thus varying the scene as much as possible.
His family then consisted of his cousin, George Cruttenden,
and Messieurs Trant and Ley. Whilst at Burdwan I received
a most kind and affectionate letter from my old friend and
shipmate Mr. Jacob Rider, who then resided at Luckipore
as Commercial Chief, to which part of the country he
warmly invited me to go and pass a month, or as much time
as I could spare.

Conscious that my absence from Calcutta must be attended
with much inconvenience to Mr. Morse as Sheriff, I deter-
mined to return, and on the 10th of January took leave of
my sincere friend Bob Pott.

On my arrival at the Presidency I found full employment
for every hour of the day, a fortunate circumstance as it
prevented my brooding over my sad loss so much as I should
had my mind been less engaged. The Sessions had proved
uncommonly laborious from an immense number of prisoners
in the calendar. Sir Elijah Impey had embarked for Europe
on the 3rd of the month, Sir Robert Chambers, as senior
puisne judge, thereupon officiating as Chief Justice, a change
that was severely felt by the public, there being a tiresome
and disgusting frivolousness of manners and conduct about

SIR ROBERT CHAMBERS'S WEAKNESS 199

the latter that rendered him extremely unfit for such a
station, the contrast appearing more forcibly from his
succeeding a man of first-rate talents, which Sir Elijah
Impey undoubtedly was, who had always been indefatigable
in the execution of the duties of his office and particularly
punctual with respect to time, taking his seat upon the
Bench precisely at nine o'clock in the morning, whereas Sir
Robert Chambers, on the contrary, seldom made his appear-
ance before eleven, and I have known him to be so late as
half -past one, thereby keeping everybody waiting to their
great prejudice and unnecessary waste of time.

CHAPTER XV

DROWNING SORROW

ON the 14th of January a native of the lower order in
Bengal was tried for the murder of a child of six years of
age, who he decoyed from the door of his parent, a wealthy
Hindoo, into a private lane or passage hard by, where he cut
its throat, casting the mutilated body into a tank, or pond,
with a weight fastened to it to keep it at the bottom. The
sole motive for this barbarous act was a desire to get posses-
sion of some gold ornaments the little creature wore round
his ankles and wrists, according to custom in Asiatic families
of opulence. Upon his being arraigned for this enormous
offence he pleaded guilty, when Sir Robert Chambers, from
a mistaken delicacy, pressed him not to do so, but take the
benefit of having the case fairly discussed, and availing
himself of any favourable circumstances, if any such there
were . The prisoner being repeatedly urged to the same effect
at last, though evidently with reluctance, and in an impatient
manner said, " Well, if you will have it so, not guilty."

A jury being empanelled, the trial was proceeded in, and
the atrocious deed established beyond all possibility of
doubt. The culprit being then called upon for his defence
readily answered he had none, coolly adding, " What should
I say ? I murdered the boy, and was compelled to do it
by the devil. I am not to blame ; it was my fate, and that
I should be hanged for it I know. It is all very right ! "

Upon the usual question being put to him by the Clerk
of the Court of " What have you to say why sentence of
death should not be pronounced upon you ? " he without
the least embarrassment replied, " What should I have to
say when I told you this morning that I took away the

200

A CALLOUS BRUTE 201

child's life ? I have told you so again and again. I have
nothing more to say. You insisted upon my telling a lie,
and have chosen to give yourselves (looking round the
Court) a great deal of unnecessary trouble. It was your
own doing and no fault of mine. I am very tired of being
in this little box."

The trial was not over until near midnight, chiefly owing
to the tediousness and trifling of Sir Robert Chambers, who
spent half the time arguing with the interpreter upon the
spelling of the witnesses' names, or the different meaning
of particular words used by them in their testimony.

On the Monday following this ignorant and unfeeling
wretch was executed. Mr. Morse wishing me to accompany
him to see the sentence of the law fulfilled, I accordingly
did so. At the fatal spot, when under the gallows and whilst
the executioner was arranging the halter, etc., the Sheriff
from a motive of compassion asked the malefactor " Whether
he had anything to say or any particular wish to make,"
when the callous brute answered, " Yes, I am very hungry,
having been kept in prison with hardly any victuals."
Confounded at so strange a speech at such a moment, Mr.
Morse could not for some time reply. At last he remarked
to the man it was most extraordinary that at such an awful
crisis, when in a few minutes he must quit this world and be
launched into eternity, he should think of eating or feel a
sensation of hunger ; that however much he (the Sheriff)
might feel disposed to comply with his desire, unaccountable
as it was, there was no possibility of procuring food at that
place, whereupon the miserable creature, with the utmost
composure, said, " Pray, don't give yourself the least
trouble about me ; it is a matter quite indifferent whether
I get a dinner or not. I am very hungry it is true, yet I
should not have mentioned the circumstance at all if you
had not so particularly asked me whether I wished for any-
thing." The matter of the eating being thus finally settled
in five minutes afterwards the cart drove from under him
leaving him suspended.

In the month of February of this year the Governor-

202 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

General's lady, ci-devant Madame Imhoff , left Calcutta and
embarked on board the Company's ship Atlas, Captain
Cooper, for Europe.

In March my namesake, Mr. Thomas Hickey, the portrait
painter whom I left in Portugal, arrived in Bengal with an
intention of following his profession, and afterwards did so
with considerable success. The first sight of him renewed
my grief in all its force for the loss of my darling Charlotte
by bringing to my recollection a hundred different circum-
stances that had occurred when we were living in the same
hotel at Lisbon. Mr. Hickey took a large, handsome house
in the most fashionable part of Calcutta. Soon after being
settled therein he proposed painting a full-sized portrait of
my lamented love, observing he thought he could execute
it so as to gratify me, partly from the small picture done
while we were at Lisbon but still more from his perfect
recollection of her features and figure. He accordingly
executed a whole length which, although undoubtedly a
likeness was by no means a favourable or pleasing one. I
paid him for it two thousand sicca rupees, or two hundred
and fifty pounds sterling.

I now lived what is generally termed hard, that is con-
stantly went to bed heated by wine, if not absolutely in-
ebriated, being at first induced to commit excess in a hope
of drowning reflection and brooding over my misfortune.
This course of life too soon settled into habit, encouraged in
it as I was by all the young men of the settlement at that
period drinking very freely. Money came in tolerably fast,
but not sufficiently so to enable me to pay off any part of
my debts. It, however, sufficed to pay up all arrears of
interest, and as I always found cash sufficient to answer
present calls I continued to live as I had set out. My
monthly expences upon an average amounted to three thou-
sand sicca rupees. I kept one of the best tables in Calcutta,
and always took special care to be supplied with the best
French wines and the oldest madeira that could be pur-
chased. Those hours that I felt the most miserable were
from the time of awaking early in the morning until I got

SIR EYRE COOTE'S WILL 203

to business at my desk, more especially in the sitting down
melancholy and alone to my solitary breakfast where every
object in the apartment reminded me of my departed
favourite. Finding this rather increased upon me than
otherwise, I suddenly resolved to change my residence, and
by paying my landlady a small sum as a premium she
consented to relinquish the engagement I had entered into
to keep the house a complete twelvemonth. I then went
into a capital house situated within five hundred yards of
the river and close to the Esplanade, the most airy and
pleasant part of the town. I soon found the good effects of
my removal in improved health.

In the middle of April a mandamus reached Calcutta for
the examination of witnesses in a Cause instituted in
England by the widow of Sir Eyre Coote (the circumstances
of whose death and burial at Madras I have already related)
against the executors, who doubted whether the testator
intended two codicils he added to his will should have effect
as to increasing the bequests to Lady Coote or not, their
idea being that the second codicil was only meant to confirm
and strengthen the first and not to add to what had pre-
viously been given. The gentlemen to whom the writ was
directed as commissioners, at the head of whom stood the
name of William Johnson of the Company's Civil Service,
and who lately departed this life in England, did me the
honour to nominate me to be their clerk. We met, I think,
only five times, two hours each, when the evidence being
finished which clearly established both codicils, making a
difference of five thousand pounds to Lady Coote, the
Commission waa closed and returned, the day after which
Mr. Johnson sent me one hundred gold mohurs (two hundred
pounds) for my trouble, a liberal remuneration for a few
hours' labour.

About this period Mrs. Pawson, with whom I had become
acquainted at Lisbon, departed this life, a victim to one of
those violent fevers so prevalent in the East Indies, and in
six weeks after her death her husband was carried off after
an illness of only four hours.

204 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

A great scarcity of European articles of eating and drink-
ing now prevailed in Calcutta. Ham and cheese were both
sold at five sicca rupees per pound or twelve shillings and
sixpence, claret scarcely procurable, and the little there was
in the settlement sold at sixty-five sicca rupees a dozen.
We, however, had a plentiful supply of that wine from
Denmark, brought out by Captain Mercer in the ship
Resolution, which, although admirable wine and wonderfully
cheap, many people were afraid to drink from an idea that
prevailed of the Danish merchants fining their wine with
arsenic and sugar of lead. As I conceived this to be a mere
vulgar prejudice I tasted the claret, and thinking it un-
commonly good I purchased two chests.

In the same month of April my Plassey shipmate and
saviour from drowning, Mr. James Grant, returned to
Bengal. The night of his arrival I saw him at a splendid
entertainment given by a club of gentlemen of which I was
a member. After what had occurred in London and his
illiberal conduct towards me, I had no intention of taking
the least notice of him, nor could I suppose he would court
a renewal of acquaintance as I had spoken my opinion of
him in very free and unqualified terms. However, just
before supper was announced he came up to me, and holding
out both his hands said, " What ! my old friend and early
companion still angry with me ! I do not deserve it, believe
me ! You are under a mistake, for I am, as I always have
been, very sincerely attached to you. A common enemy to
both deceived you and slandered me ! So come , shake hands .
At any rate, I beseech you to forget and forgive. Let us be
reconciled." This apparently open and ingenuous conduct
at once disarmed me of all resentment, and though I knew
how ill he had behaved I could not resist the acceptance of
his proffered hand. Thus were we again united in amity.
I then invited him to dine with me on a subsequent day,
and summoned all the bon-vivants of Calcutta to meet him.
Amongst my party were the famous Colonel John Mordaunt,
eldest natural son of the old Earl of Peterborough, the
equally talked of Henry Fox Calcraft, son of the celebrated

CONNOISEURS OF CLARET 205

Mrs. Bellamy, the actress, by Mr. Calcraft, the man who
amassed an overgrown fortune as an army agent ; Messieurs
John Haldane, Archibald Montgomery, Peter Moore and
others of equal fame in the bottle way. For such a set I
was anxious to obtain English claret, that is claret from
London, and after much enquiry I discovered that Baxter
and Joy's, who kept a Europe shop, had a small quantity
which they reserved for favourite customers, and as I came
under that description, and had therefore some interest in
the house, I prevailed on them to let me have three dozen,
they assuring me that was double what any other customer
had been indulged with.

On the morning of the day the party were to dine with
me I desired my consumah (steward) to give the wine that
came in a day or two before, meaning that from Baxter
and Joy's. During dinner the claret was greatly admired,
and much surprize expressed by the guests how I managed
in such a time of scarcity to procure wine of so superior a
quality. It had all along struck me as greatly resembling
the peculiar flavour of the Danish batch, but still I thought
it could not be it.

While the consumah was removing the desert I, in a
whisper, asked if he had according to my order given the
English claret, to which he answered, " No, master, I will
give now done eating." Vexed at this stupidity of my
servants, I merely mentioned to one or two of my friends
near me that they would now taste a very different liquor
to what they had been drinking. Baxter and Joy's was
accordingly introduced, when a general exclamation took
place of " Zounds ! Hie key, they have changed the wine
upon us." " Well," replied I, "if they have I trust it is
for the better." "No, by God ! " exclaimed some of my
guests, " quite the contrary, it is from most delicious to
execrable stuff." Knowing as I did how the matter stood,
I entreated they would not decide hastily but give- the wine
last brought a fair trial, aa I had abundant reason to think
it was beyond all comparison better than what they had
pronounced in favour of. A second trial thereupon took

206 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

place ; it was again compared with the Besolution's, and
again the party unanimously decided that what they had
drank during dinner was infinitely the best, it being un-
commonly high flavoured, delicious wine, whereas the other
was abominable, not fit to be drank. Finding this opinion
general, I told them I rejoiced to find they had such correct
taste, especially as I could indulge them upon very easy
terms, the wine they admired having cost me no more than
eighteen rupees a dozen, while that they abused and rejected
was at the enormous price of sixty-five rupees a dozen. To
shew how little real judgment operates, and how few men
are capable of deciding from their own palate, the moment
I declared the vast difference in the prices several of the
party began to change their tone, some of them observing,
" There certainly is a delicacy and a flavour in the English
wine which the other wants," and they stuck to it the re-
mainder of the day, merely, as I firmly believe, because it
cost sixty-five sicca rupees a dozen instead of eighteen.
John Mordaunt, Peter Moore and myself drank the
Danish from really considering it the best, as it certainly
was.

Upon my return to Bengal in 1783 I immediately became
intimate with Mr. Francis Rundell, who had, during my
absence in Europe, come out as an assistant surgeon in the
Company's service. He was a fine dissipated fellow, and
although in years not more than twenty-five, in constitu-
tion he was double that from early and continued excess.
Both his features and person were uncommonly fine, eyes
more piercingly expressive than even Garrick's, with a voice
of perfect harmony and great strength at the same time.
Altogether, no man was ever more admirably calculated
for the stage, and the possession of such qualifications
probably first occasioned his turning his thoughts to the
sock and buskin. He was greatly attached to everything
theatrical, having performed several characters in England
for his own amusement or to serve actors of his acquaintance.
His family violently opposed his making the stage a pro-
fession to live by, in consequence of which he took up the

THE THEATRE 207

study of surgery, to which he served under a man of eminence
for several years.

At the time of Mr. Rundell's arrival in Calcutta there was
a most capital and complete theatre supported by voluntary
subscriptions. A schism had recently occurred amongst the
gentlemen performers originating in a contention about
filling the first-rate parts, each individual supposing himself
the best qualified. This dispute had been carried to so great
a length that some duels had been the consequence, and at
last they could not muster a sufficient number to act any
play, besides which from a general profusion and extrava-
gance in fine dresses the theatre became involved in debt to
the amount of upwards of thirty thousand sicca rupees.

Mr. Rundell in a few weeks after becoming an inhabitant
of Calcutta made an offer to the proprietors or subscribers
to undertake the sole and entire management of the theatre
on his own account, agreeing to find performers and get up
plays at least once a week during the months of November,
December, January and February. He further proposed,
provided the proprietors would allow him to receive the
admission money of one gold mohur each person, or for a
box ticket, which was the price that always had been paid,
and eight sicca rupees for the pit, he would bind himself to
pay off the whole amount of debt due from the theatre, and
never to call upon the proprietors for any supplies of cash
under any pretence whatsoever. A general meeting of the
proprietors was thereupon summoned, before whom Mr.
Rundell's proposal being laid, it was debated upon and
finally unanimously accepted. A deed was prepared
between the parties and executed, and Mr. Rundell forth-
with put into possession of the entire premises. There was
a very good dwelling-house upon the ground in which he
resided.

The settlement soon found the advantages arising from
this grant, not only in an increase of their favourite amuse-
ment, but also that theatrical performances were got up and
acted in a style thentofore unknown in India. Mr. Rundell's
convivial disposition, his uncommonly pleasing and con-

208 MEMOIRS OP WILLIAM HICKEY

ciliating manners and superior abilities rendered him ex-
tremely popular, so that everyone who had stood aloof under
the old system were now ready and willing to come forward
and lend their individual aid in the way best adapted to
their capacities, of which the new manager was perfectly
competent to decide, besides which these voluntary per-
formers had the benefit of receiving his advice and instruc-
tions whereby the style of acting was greatly improved.

So pleased and gratified were the settlement at the extra-
ordinary alteration that the house was crowded whenever
opened, and Mr. Rundell soon found he was likely to have
an admirable good thing of it. In the course of the first
season he cleared off the whole of the debts due from the
theatre, the subsequent profits going into his own pocket.
The disbursements, however, were unavoidably very large,
for Mr. Rundell prudently and sagaciously adopted every
measure he thought likely to please and gratify those
gentlemen who assisted him in " strutting and fretting their
hour upon the stage.'* He not only paid without a murmur
for whatever dresses they chose to make up for the different
characters they represented, but on the nights of perform-
ance, after all was over, gave a splendid supper upon the
stage, where claret, champagne and burgundy were most
liberally dealt out, many of the guests continuing at table
until daylight. I have known him more than once pay
eighty sicca rupees a dozen for the champagne. As from
long habit and a strong head he could bear a great deal of
wine he always contrived to make his young heroes
gloriously drunk, and by so doing became the most popular
man in Bengal.

Mr. Rundell's talents as an actor were certainly of the
first rate. Upon Mr. William Burke seeing him perform
Hamlet, he declared to me he thought him quite equal to
Garrick, a high compliment from a man of Mr. Burke's
judgment and who had always been an enthusiastic admirer
of our English Roscius. The fact is that really nothing
could surpass Rundell's mode of acting several parts, especi-
ally those of Hamlet, Jaffier or Pierre in Venice Preserved ;

MEN ACTORS IN FEMALE PARTS 209

King Lear, Othello, Richard the Third, Orestes in
The Distressed Mother ; Leom in Rule a Wife and Have a
Wife; and Lord Townlyin The Provoked Husband, in all of
which characters, except Othello, Mr. Garrick shone con-
spicuously.

Mr. Rundell, notwithstanding all his large drawbacks,
finding that his emoluments far surpassed his most sanguine
expectation, determined to send to England for some
second-rate actors, both male and female, for thentofore
all women characters had been filled by the male sex, and
although there were two gentlemen, Mr. Bride and Mr.
Norfar, who excelled in female parts, still the want of
women was materially felt. He ultimately succeeded in
getting three very tolerable female performers from London
and some male understrappers.

My habits of life being congenial with Mr. Rundell's
scarce a day passed that we were not together some part of
it. In his drunken frolics he had met with various disasters,
and at different times broken both arms and one leg.

My Irish friend, Captain Richard Heffernan, who, when
I left India in 1779, commanded the Nancy, then one of
the Bengal Marine, under the shabby Commodore Richard-
son, now arrived in Calcutta from Bombay, where he had
been upon his own private affairs, and he frequently called
upon me.

Freskini continued with me, proving a very attentive
and useful servant, and beyond dispute I had the best-
dressed head of any man in Calcutta.

Whilst in the first burst of grief at the death of my dearest
Charlotte, after a sleepless night I had just risen from my
bed between six and seven in the morning and was sitting
in the verandah in a loose great -coat, when a servant said a
gentleman below desired to speak to me. Finding it was a
stranger, I ordered the man to tell him I was not well and
could not receive him. The servant returned again saying
the gentleman requested only three words and would not
detain me half a minute. I thereupon went downstairs,
where I saw an elegant -looking man in regimentals who,
in P

210 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

after apologizing for troubling me at so early an hour,
civilly asked me if I could contrive to call at his house any
hour that day to dress a lady's hair. From the question I
discovered that he imagined he was addressing Freskini,
and certainly my dress and appearance might justify the
supposition. I made a cold, formal bow, saying I would
direct one of my servants to call Freskini and returned
upstairs. Within an hour I received a very handsome
apology for the mistake in a letter signed " James Crockett,"
whom I recollected a dissipated London dasher. He had
run through an independent fortune, being finally obliged,
like many other spendthrifts, to seek refuge from his
creditors' attacks by accepting a commission in the East
India Company's service. I soon afterwards became
intimate with him, and had some laughs at his mistaking
me for an Italian hairdresser.

My namesake, who frequently called upon me, observed
it was a pity the whole-length picture of Mrs. Hie key had
not a companion. This I perfectly understood, but was
determined not to take the plain hint. His persevering
attention to his own interest, however, was more than a
match for my prudential resolves. He at last in direct
terms said I ought to sit for my own portrait to match the
other, and I was blockhead enough to comply, paying
another two thousand sicca rupees for my folly. He made
a very correct likeness, with which everybody seemedpleased.
When first hung up in my breakfast-room I took my banyan
in to see it, asking his opinion. After looking very earnestly
some time without uttering a syllable I again asked what
he thought of it and whether he should have known it was
done for me. After another pause, he in a hesitating,
doubtful manner drawled out, " Yes, picture like master,
but where watch ? " At that time I always wore a rather
showy gold chain with several seals, which the artist had
not introduced, an omission that struck the Hindoo so
forcibly as to occasion the " but where watch ? " without
which he seemed to consider the work incomplete. I am
afraid there have been many equally ridiculous criticisms

A FETE-CHAMPETRE 211

made upon pictures in Europe, and by those who ought to
have known better.

A fete-champetre announced as to be given by Mr. Edward
Fenwick, a gentleman high in the Civil Service, entirely
engaged the public attention and conversation during the
greater part of the month of May. It was intended to be
celebrated at his country house, situated upon the banks
of the river, in Garden Reach, about five miles from Cal-
cutta, which thentofore had been the property and place of
residence of my esteemed friends Mr. and Mrs. Lacam.
The gardens were to be brilliantly illuminated with many
thousand coloured lamps ; an eminent operator in fireworks
had been brought down from Luc know to display his talents ;
the company to appear in fancy dresses, those that chose
it to wear masks. Ranges of tents were fixed in different
parts of the gardens, wherein tables were laid covered with
all the dainties the best French cooks could produce, for
the accommodation of three hundred persons, besides which
every room in the house was stored with refreshments of
every sort and kind ; different bands of martial music were
stationed in several parts of the gardens, and also in the
house, with appropriate and distinct performers for the
dancers. The last two miles of the road were lighted up
with a double row of lamps on each side, making every
object clear as day. In short, nothing could exceed the
splendour of the preparations for this rural entertainment.

The evening appointed for the fete was beautifully serene,
and fortunately without the strong southerly wind that
usually blows at that season of the year. I, of course, with
every gentleman of the settlement, had a card of invitation.
Unluckily it happened that I had one of my parties to dine
with me that day ; the consequence was my getting sadly
intoxicated, in which state, contrary to the advice and
remonstrances of my guests, who entreated me to go in
my chariot (indeed, two or three offered me a seat in theirs),
I chose to mount my phaeton, and off I set full gallop
without either sice or mussaulgee. The road was crowded
with carriages, notwithstanding which I contrived to steer

212 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

clear of the many I passed from my superior velocity until
under the long wall of Colonel Watson's docks, when a con-
siderate idea about my horses got into my head, and I
thought for their sakes of slackening my pace. I accordingly
put them into a gentle trot.

While proceeding at this moderate rate I observed an
open carriage with, as I conceived, two ladies and a gentle-
man in it, endeavouring to pass me. My politeness to the
fair sex therefore induced me to draw off to the left to give
them room, in doing which my wheels came in contact with
the root of a large tree growing out of an old wall, and over
I went like a shot. My head first reaching the ground, I
scraped the skin completely off one side of my face. The
quantity of claret I had swallowed rendered this a matter
of indifference. I therefore, in spite of my accident, deter-
mined to proceed, and without bestowing a thought upon
phaeton or horses I walked on towards Mr. Fen wick's.

My dress was a light blue silk domino, which from my
tumble into a deep brick dust, added to the blood streaming
from my lacerated face, was in a sorry condition. The
moment I entered the principal room at Mr. Fenwick's
every creature therein surrounded me, asking questions in-
numerable how I could have got into such woeful plight.
Too drunk to satisfy their curiosity, some of my friends at
length got hold of me and carried me into a private room,
where my wounds were washed, clean linen furnished, and
I was put into at least a more decorous state for the com-
pany of ladies. Great persuasions were used to induce me
to go to bed instead of joining the gay scenes, but that I
would not hear of, swearing I would not forgo the pleasure
of beholding the fine women for all the world. As I was
always cheerful and good-humoured in my cups I afforded
much laughter to my fair friends by the nonsense I talked.
With the kindest attention they exerted themselves to
prevent my drinking anything more, so that in three or
four hours the consequences of the excess I had committed
at home went off and I became reasonable.

At a late hour, upon enquiring amongst Mr. Fenwick's

A FALL AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 213

servants, I learnt that my horses and carriage had been
brought on by General Stibbert, who seeing it in the road
overset, and no servants belonging to it, very considerately
ordered some of his people to get it to rights and bring it
on to Mr. Fen wick's, where he concluded the owner of it
must be. In my fall from the carriage I came down with
such force that a parcel of seals I wore were torn from the
watch-chain. One in particular, being my coat -of -arms, I
highly valued from being a present of my brother Joseph's
when I was going out a cadet to India in the year 1768. It
was admirably well engraved upon an uncommonly fine
bloodstone ; this seal was broken short off from the lower
part of the setting.

The company did not begin to depart from Mr. Fen wick's
until after seven o'clock in the morning ; many stayed to
breakfast, of which number I was one. About nine I stepped
into my phaeton, which had sustained no material injury,
to drive to town. When at the part of the road where I
had the somerset I begged Mr. Bird, who was with me, to
allow me to stop until the servants looked about to see if
they could discover my seal, an idea that greatly amused
my companion, who deemed it superlatively ridiculous to
suppose so small a thing should be found in a road fifty feet
wide, many inches deep in dust, and over which several
hundred carriages had passed since the accident happened.
Yet, extraordinary as it certainly was, we had scarcely been
there a minute when one of my kitmudars picked up and gave
to me what I imagined to be a small piece of brick or tile,
but which upon clearing away the dirt that covered it,
proved to be my seal, the stone of which was uninjured. I
caused it to be reset and wear it at this present day.

Having from my earliest youth been of an amorous dis-
position I began to feel the effects of a long continence. I
therefore one night sent for a native woman, but the
moment I lay myself down upon the bed all desire ceased,
being succeeded by disgust. I could think of nothing but
her I had for ever lost, and the bitter recollection rendered
me so miserable that I sent off my Hindostanee companion

214 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

untouched. The same circumstance occurred to me three
successive times. Nature, however, at last proved too
powerful to be surmounted, and I subsequently ceased to
feel the horror that at first prevailed at the thoughts of a
connection with black women, some of whom are indeed
very lovely, nor is it correct to call them black, those that
come from the Upper Provinces being very fair.

In the month of June Mr. William Burke came from
Madras with an intention to reside in Bengal. He had just
received the appointment of Paymaster-General to the
King's troops in India, an office that allowed of his fixing
at whichever of the presidencies he thought proper, and as
he preferred Bengal he shortly after his arrival purchased
an excellent country house, beautifully situated at the head
of Garden Beach, commanding an extensive and rich view
both up and down the river, taking in Fort William, the
range of houses, fairly enough termed palaces along the
Esplanade and Chouringee, with an immense forest of
masts of ships moored off the town of Calcutta, from which
city it was distant four miles. Mr. Burke brought round
with him from Madras two young men, one of them Ensign
Davison, as insolent and good-for-nothing a fellow as ever
lived, who has since made himself very conspicuous by
various acts of enormity, for some of which he merited the
gallows, but instead of meeting with his deserts from the
hands of justice, he is at this day enjoying a pension from
the East India Company, with the rank of lieutenant -colonel
on their establishment of Madras. The other protege was
Mr. Michael George Prendergast, also in the Fort St. George
army as an engineer officer, a very different person in every
respect from Mr. Davison. I spent much of my leisure time
at Mr. Burke 's ; indeed, had I done as he wished I should
have taken up my abode altogether there, a commodious
bed-chamber and dressing-room being set apart for my use,
and always retained for me, although I rarely occupied them,
preferring going home to sleep in my own bed.

In the same month of June Charles Chisholme, who was
second mate of the Plassey at the period of my sailing on

HOUNDS SOLD ONLY WITH MADEIRA 215

board her, arrived in Bengal, having the command of the
Gatton Indiaman. Chisholme completely verified the pre-
diction of my old blackguard friend, Sam Rogers, who often
told him when boasting of the manner he would conduct
himself in when in the command of a ship, that he would be
the greatest bashaw and overbearing tyrant that ever got
a command, nor would he ever have an officer that would
sail a second time under him, nor a passenger that would
give him a good word. In the Gatton he brought out many
passengers : among them were Mr. and Mrs. Stephenson
(the latter being now Countess of Essex), the famous Major
Baggs of duelling and gambling celebrity, and some other
equally conspicuous characters. Captain Chisholme 's be-
haviour had been so disagreeable and so unconciliating as
to offend every person at his table, so much so that during
the last two months of the voyage no one ever spoke to him ;
he was completely at Coventry. He had quarrelled with
and broke his second and third mates, both of whom
publicly avowed their intentions of prosecuting him for
damages on their return home. He made several attempts
to justify himself to me by throwing the blame upon the
passengers, the whole of whom he asserted were biassed
and prejudiced against him by Messieurs Stephenson and
Baggs, but his own story did not tell well, and I could not
help saying, " Come, come, my old shipmate, I can plainly
perceive Rogers 's discernment was greater than anybody
allowed him."

Captain Chisholme had on board a large pack of remark-
ably fine hounds, then in great demand by the Bengal
sportsmen, for which he was offered twenty times their
supposed value, but he likewise had one hundred and fifty
pipes of madeira wine, an article with which the market was
so greatly overstocked there was no sale at all for. Captain
Chisholme therefore, like a wily Scotchman, finding his dogs
so much sought after, determined to make them the means
of getting rid of his madeira. He accordingly made his
purser give notice that any person taking four pipes of
madeira at three hundred rupees per pipe should have two

216 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

couple of hounds at the market price those animals then
bore. The scheme fully answered, for he disposed of both
wine and dogs at a profit of upwards of one hundred per
cent, instead of being an immense loser as otherwise must
have been the case, there being no sale for madeira but at
a loss of sixty per cent upon the prime cost. Upon his
homeward passage he caught a severe cold by continuing
exposed day and night for nearly a week to dreadful weather
they encountered off the south end of Madagascar, which
fell upon his lungs, produced inflammation and carried him
out of the world the same day that the ship reached St.
Helena.

By the Gallon I received a letter from Fozard, the livery
stable keeper, from whom I had purchased saddle-horses
during my residence in England in the years 1780 and 1781,
and with whom they always stood at livery. Although I
never had, like Mr. Van, encouraged him to treat me with
familiarity, this letter of his was couched in remarkably
free-and-easy terms, quite as if we had been living upon an
equal footing in society. It commenced by reminding me
that in the hurry that always attends a person's leaving one
country to go and reside in another it had escaped my recol-
lection to discharge a small balance due to him of twenty-
five pounds, for which amount he had drawn upon me at
sixty days' sight in favour of "his friend William Petrie,"
and was sure I would duly honour the bill. This friend
whom he spoke of so familiarly was then a member of Council
in the Government of Madras, and in daily expectation of
succeeding to the President's chair. To Mr. Petrie I accord-
ingly remitted the sum drawn for. Having finished this
little matter of business he proceeded to give me what he
called the news of the day, that is an account of certain
rogues and prostitutes whom he supposed I must be ac-
quainted with, concluding his curious epistle thus : " Our
friend Van is completely done up. He has finally and
effectually dished himself by marrying a little strumpet he
took from the theatre, without character, fortune, accom-
plishment of any kind, or even personal beauty. Poor fool,

A REMINDER FROM FOZARD 217

what an end ! He was always shallow-pated, and yet I
cannot help pitying him. His name stands deep in my
books, and I fear not a guinea will ever be forthcoming ! "
About this period my friend Mr. Rundell's health became
so bad that his physicians advised him to go to sea, in
consequence of which he took his passage on board a country
ship bound to Pulo Penang, since called Prince of Wales 's
Island, and in a few days after so doing embarked and
departed.

CHAPTER XVI

SIR ROBERT CHAMBERS AND MR. JUSTICE HYDE

ON the 10th of June the Sessions commenced with another
numerous calendar. Eight o'clock in the morning was the
hour named in the summons to both grand and petit juries
to attend, and they assembled accordingly soon after that
hour, but Sir Robert Chambers, according to his usual cus-
tom, did not make his appearance until near one, and when
he did go into Court the swearing both juries and delivering
his charge to the grand jury brought it to three o'clock,
when the fiddle-faddle body declared it was too late to
commence a trial. The Court was adjourned and thus one
day lost.

The following morning Mr. Justice Hyde and Sir William
Jones took their seats upon the Bench precisely at nine, had
a jury called and sworn to try a prisoner they arraigned,
and then sat with their hands before them waiting the
arrival of the apathetic Sir Robert Chambers, it being a
point of etiquette not to commence any trial until the
chief or senior judge was present. At eleven, there being
no appearance of his coming, Mr. Hyde grew angry and
impatient. He therefore wrote a note to Sir Robert telling
him Sir William Jones and he had been upon the Bench
two hours, the grand and petit juries in attendance the same
time, and requesting to know whether he meant to come
into Court or not. This note he was in the act of folding up
when Sir Robert came smirking and smiling upon the Bench,
and seeing the note upon Mr. Hyde's desk facetiously said :
" Brother Hyde, I'm glad I have just saved my distance
and prevented your dispatching that memento of my slug-

218

SIR ROBERT REBUKED 219

gardness. I am, however, now here, so you may tear your
note." " No, I won't," sharply replied Mr. Hyde, " it will
do for to-morrow," a severe and cutting rebuke that was
thrown away upon the callous knight.

Late as Sir Robert came, another hour was wasted in his
copying the list of the jury into his private minute book, etc.
He then objected to try the prisoner who had been arraigned
and was in the dock, saying the day had been set apart for
the trial of the housebreaker, who was accordingly ordered
up. Being placed at the bar, the Judge asked him what his
name was, to which the man, with a most tremendous
brogue, answered Pater Carl. The word Pater occasioned
a variety of questions and most ridiculous replies. His next
question was, " What countryman are you ? " to which the
prisoner answered, " Faith, I'm all the way from the county
of Kilkenny its own self." " How do you spell your name ? "
enquired Sir Robert. The prisoner could not satisfy the
Judge, being so ignorant he knew not a letter of the alphabet.
After much absurd questioning from Sir Robert without
obtaining the least information, Mr. William Townsend
Jones, an Irish attorney, offended at what he considered
superlative stupidity on the part of the Judge, bounced up
and said, " Indeed, my Lord, Carl is a very old and respect-
able name universally known throughout Ireland, for it is
truly Milesian, the divil a better in the kingdom. I have
myself the honour of being acquainted with several of the
family."

Sir Robert : " Then perhaps, Mr. Jones, you may know
something of this person at the bar."

Jones : "I don't exactly percaive that that follows, my
Lord, or that I'm bound to know all of the name becase I
do some."

Sir Robert : " Pray, Mr. Jones, how is the name spelt ?
I suppose it ought to be with a ' K.' '

Jones : " Why it ought to be with a ' K,' my Lord, I
cannot conjecture. The fact, however, is that the family
who probably best know their own name spell it with a say
(" C "). The prisoner nevertheless, my Lord, will be greatly

220 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

obliged to you to prove they are all wrong and that it should
be a ' K,5 becase in that case he must be acquitted upon a
misnomer.'*

Sir Robert : "I shall be obliged to you, Mr. Jones, to tell
me how the name is spelt in Ireland."

Jones : " Indeed, and that I will most willingly, my Lord.
' C ' (which he again pronounced like " say ") * A ' (like
ah) ' R,' double 11."

Sir Robert : " What ! two ' r's,' Mr. Jones ; that's odd."

Jones (with much contempt): "No, not two * r's ' at
all, but ' C ' (say) ' A J (the first letter of the alphabet, call
it how you plase) ' R/ double 11."

Sir Robert : " Oh, thank you, Mr. Jones. Very well now,
I have it written down properly. Pray, Mr. Jones, do you
speak Irish ? "

Jones : " By my soul and that I do, my Lord."

Sir Robert : " Then pray inform me, Mr. Jones, what
Carl is in Irish."

Jones (with evident surprise at the question) : "In Irish,
my Lord ? "

Sir Robert : " Yes, in Irish, what does it mean ? "

Jones (with ineffable contempt) : " Why the man's name,
to be sure. What else could it mane ? "

This created quite a shout of laughter from the auditors,
and Sir Robert asked no more questions, but, after looking
over his book for some minutes he leaned over towards Mr.
Justice Hyde, to whom he said, "This is the 16th (sic) of
June, the very day on which Westminster and most of
the great public schools in England break up for the
holidays." Mr. Hyde, with a sneer, very expressive of his
feelings, replied, "Is it indeed ? I cannot but wonder at
your recollecting the circumstance."

It is scarcely to be credited that a man could so far forget
the dignity of his station to act thus weakly at any time,
more especially at the moment a fellow-creature was stand-
ing at the bar arraigned for his life. Yet with all this
frivolousness of manner Sir Robert Chambers was a deeply
read and very learned man who had passed through the

THE BIGHT WORD IN THE RIGHT PLACE 221

University of Oxford with peculiar 6clat, and at the time
of his being appointed to a seat upon the Bench of the
Supreme Court filled the office of Vinerian Professor. So
whimsical and yet so precise was he in the execution of the
most trifling matter, that even in writing a common note
he always first made a rough copy, using various words that
expressed the same meaning. These words he placed one
above another ; he then referred to Johnson and other
authorities for the purpose of ascertaining which of the
selected words would be the most correct to use, and
adopted one accordingly. A cynical acquaintance of his,
old Mr. Fowke, being one of a company where the character
of Sir Robert, in point of literature and general science, was
discussed, sarcastically but accurately enough compared
his knowledge to a dictionary with the leaves misplaced or
headed with wrong letters, where although eminent learning
was contained in the work, you never knew how to get at it.
Mr. Justice Hyde, notwithstanding the glaring blemishes
in Sir Robert Chambers as a public magistrate, was wonder-
fully attached to him, and had the highest opinion of his
integrity, as well as of his talents, which was not exactly
the case with people in general. Mr. Hyde himself was as
high-minded and good-hearted a man as any in the world,
yet he also had his failings and infirmities, being at times
strangely petulant, and though possessed of good, plain
sense, sometimes acted with so much impetuosity and in-
temperateness as to render that sense extremely doubtful.
Hospitable to the greatest degree, his table, which was
always profusely covered with the best of viands and
choicest liquors, was free to every person that had the
slightest acquaintance with him, and not a few were there
who two or three times a week availed themselves of his
liberal hospitality that would otherwise have been in want
of a dinner. This sort of open table greatly increased upon
Mr. Hyde returning to England, which bad health 'rendered
necessary while I was in Europe. The number of pen-
sioners he had was incredible, allowing them from one
hundred rupees a month down to two and three rupees,

222 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

according to their respective and relative situations in life.
It is not, therefore, at all wonderful that his income of near
eight thousand pounds sterling a year, which from the rate
of exchange the Judges' salaries were paid at, it amounted
to, proved inadequate to defray his expenditure. At the
end of ten years' residence in India he found his debts so
considerable as to be under the necessity of drawing upon
his attornies in England for a lac of sicca rupees, or twelve
thousand five hundred pounds, which was to be remitted
from the produce of his paternal estate. I will now briefly
relate some anecdotes that equally shew his philanthropy and
oddity of temper.

It happened that Mr. Thomas Motte, who for several
years had been one of the greatest merchants in Asia, from
having embarked large sums of money in a speculation that
turned out unluckily, became embarrassed in his circum-
stances, and finally was compelled to seek refuge from a
prison by going to reside at the foreign settlement of
Fredericksnagore under the Danish flag, upon which un-
pleasant event six of his most intimate and attached friends
agreed to subscribe a monthly sum for his maintenance and
support. His brother-in-law, Mr. Peter Touchet, at the
desire of Mr. Justice Hyde, undertook to arrange the matter.
He conceived that six hundred rupees per month would
be an ample provision. He put opposite his own name one
hundred rupees, Mr. John Haldane did the same. The
subscription paper next went to Mr. Hyde, who put down
his name with two hundred rupees. Mr. Peter Speke, who
was in no way behind Judge Hyde in general benevolence
or in acts of private liberality and munificence, thereupon
made a remark upon the margin of the subscription paper,
in the civilest language, saying that as the original intention
was for six friends to subscribe the same sum for the dis-
tressed individual, he hoped Mr. Justice Hyde would not
be displeased at being requested to reduce his monthly
quota to one hundred rupees, that each might pay alike.
Mr. Hyde, however, was not only displeased at being desired
to lessen the amount, but extremely indignant at Mr.

MR. HYDE'S GENEROSITY 223

Speke's presuming to dictate to him or to restrict the
quantum of his donation. When, therefore, Mr. Touchet
brought back the paper with Mr. Speke's remark upon it,
Mr. Hyde pronounced him " an ass " (a favourite epithet
of his to those who in any way offended him), adding,
' You may go, sir, to this same Mr. Speke and tell him, if
you please, from me, I think he has taken a liberty he is
not warranted in. I trouble not myself as to what he does
with his money ; he may squander it upon his women, as
I believe he does, or throw it into the Ganges, I care not
which, but I am quite clear he has no sort of right to inter-
fere with me, or with the sums I choose to give away, no
matter to whom." And taking the subscription paper to
his writing-table he altered the figure of 2 to a 3, thereby
making his monthly subscription three hundred instead of
two hundred rupees, which sum he continued to pay until
the time of his death.

With all his good qualities, and no man had more, he
often suffered his petulance and irascibility to lead him
into awkward situations, and more than once into a serious
scrape. Polite and attentive as possible to those who
visited him as a gentleman, he was, on the other hand,
deficient in common civility when anyone, even if an
intimate and personal friend, went before him in his judicial
capacity, or upon any kind of business whatever, upon
some of which occasions I have seen and heard him behave
excessively rude. Whilst engaged upon any part of his
duty he never asked a gentleman to sit down, nor did he
ever then acknowledge an acquaintance. A captain of an
Indiaman, who was well known to the Judge, went before
him to swear an affidavit. While the Judge was perusing
it the Commander sat himself down in a chair, whereupon
Mr. Hyde, looking fiercely at him, said, " I didn't invite
you to that freedom. Stand up ! " He then angrily
questioned him relative to his Christian name (being sub-
scribed " J. Price "), saying, " Pray, what is J. Price ? Is
it Jacob or James, or Jeremiah, or Jonathan, or John, or
what is it ? It is most extraordinary that people are thus

224 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

to be set a -guessing about your name." " My name, sir,"
replied the Captain, " is John, and that is the way in which
I have written it all my life." " Is it ? " rejoined the
Judge, " then it is a very foolish way, and you have been
doing foolishly all your life. The sooner you leave it off
the better." During this speech he signed the jurat thus,
" J. Hyde," upon which Captain Price rather flippantly
observed, " And, pray, who is to know what J. Hyde is,"
to which the Judge replied, " You are an impertinent cox-
comb. Go along out of the room. Do you pertly conceive
there is no difference between one of His Majesty's Justices
and the Captain of a merchant ship ! "

Mr. Hyde had a great dislike to any person's wearing a
scarlet coat that was not in the army. A thick-headed
Portuguese clerk to an attorney went before him to swear
to the service of some notice in the progress of a cause, as
a mere matter of course . Before the Judge began to question
him at all the fellow said, " Yes, my lord." " Yes, my lord,"
repeated the Judge in a muttering tone, " you are a pro-
digious ass." " Yes, my lord, "said the writer. "Humph,"
grunted out Mr. Hyde, adding, " Now, Mr. Redcoat, I shall
ask you one question, to which I desire a plain and direct
answer." " Yes, my lord," said the writer. " What !
before you hear it ? " asked the Judge. " Yes, my lord."
" Pray now, Mr. Yes-my-lord, did not your master desire
you to say * yes, my lord ' to every question I should put
to you ? " " Yes, my lord," replied the Portuguese. Where-
upon the Judge in a violent rage threw the affidavit in his
face, ordering the servants to kick the stupid rascal down-
stairs.

Previous to the establishment of a regular police in
Calcutta it was customary for a judge to sit at chambers,
situate in the Lol Bazaar, for the purpose of transacting the
daily business of the town, also of adjusting any little
matters of dispute that might arise between the natives
not of sufficient magnitude in itself, or the parties too poor
to enter into a legal contest. Upon an occasion of this sort
two men of some consequence amongst the Hindoos appeared

A DETERMINED HINDOO 225

before him relative to a very narrow slip of ground to which
both laid claim. After hearing the statement of each Mr.
Hyde recommended their leaving the question to be decided
by arbitration, each party to name an arbitrator. One of
the two readily consented, but the other, though with
great respect, begged to decline so doing, saying he should
prefer a decision by the Court. Mr. Hyde strongly urged
him to arbitrate, which the man persisted in refusing to
accede to, observing that he conceived the law to be clearly
and indisputably with him, and he could without a doubt
establish his claim by incontrovertible evidence, why then
should he risk the caprice or prejudice of any individuals
operating against him, which must be the case of an arbitra-
tion. He further remarked that both himself and his
antagonist were opulent men, possessing abundant means
to try their rights in the regular and common manner ;
that to his lordship's opinion when delivered from his seat
on the Bench he should bow with the most respectful
deference and submission.

" And so you won't do as I advise and arbitrate, hey ? "
said the Judge. "No, my lord," humbly replied the man,
" I had rather not." " You had better," added the Judge.
" Pray, my lord, excuse me and let me humbly entreat
that the Court may determine between me and my oppo-
nent." The Judge angrily said, " No, I won't, and I give
you five minutes to determine whether you will arbitrate
or not." The Hindoo with great composure answered,
" My lord, I require no time whatever. My resolution is
formed. I do not choose to leave the point to arbitration,
but to the decision of your lordship and the other judges in
Court." " Oh ! mighty well," said Mr. Hyde, "then I'll
convince you that I can be just as obstinate as yourself,"
and he actually ordered one of the clerks of the office to
fill up a commitment, which being done he sent the man
off, guarded by peons, to the Calcutta gaol.

While the warrant was filling up a servant belonging to
the Hindoo ran to the house of his master's attorney, Mr.
Fairfax Moresby, who lived within a few yards, and in-

III— Q

226 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

formed him of what was going forward, whereupon Mr.
Moresby instantly went to the Judge's chambers. Mr.
Hyde seeing him enter, and probably suspecting the occasion
of the visit, petulantly asked, " Pray, what do you want ?
What has brought you here this evening ? " (The Judge
had a particular dislike to any person's attending out of
mere curiosity, and more especially to an attorney's being
present.) Mr. Moresby replied, " My lord, I have taken the
liberty of coming to speak on behalf of a client of mine
who has just sent a servant to acquaint me that he has
been ordered into confinement without any cause whatso-
ever."

The Judge here interrupted Mr. Moresby with, " You
have taken the liberty of coming, and you say very truly it
is a liberty, and an unwarrantable liberty. I wonder at
your doing it, Mr. Moresby. The shorter your stay the
better. Let me advise you to leave the room." Mr. Moresby,
instead of doing so, said, " My lord, the man you have
committed is a Hindoo of the highest rank and consequence.
He is likewise a Brahmin, and as such will be disgraced by
being confined in a prison with felons and persons he cannot
associate with. I am ready to give bail for him to any
amount required, and humbly conceive he has not been
guilty of any offence for which bail can be refused." " I
neither want your security nor panegyric upon the fellow
respecting his caste, his wealth, or his high connections.
Go about your business, sir, you have none here." To this
Moresby replied, " My lord, it is my duty, without intending
you the slightest offence thereby, to inform you that I
shall forthwith apply to another judge for a writ of habeas
corpus that the cause of my client's strange imprisonment
may be enquired into."

This put Mr. Hyde into a violent rage. He roared out,
" What ! do you presume to threaten me with your writs,
or think to intimidate me by your impertinence ? Go along,
sir. Get out, I say, or I'll send you after your rich Hindoo,
and then you may include yourself in your habeas corpus."
Mr. Moresby bowed and retired, when Mr. Hyde, recollecting

A DRUNKEN APPLICANT 227

himself, and the violence as well as the illegality of what he
had done, instantly ordered a hircarrah to run as fast as
he could to the prison with a release. The hircarrah did so,
reaching the gaol before the Hindoo had left the outer
lodge.

The house wherein the judges thus sat in rotation to
transact the police business in an evening was hired by the
Company, the upper part being occupied by the clerk, who
was also an attorney of the Court. From the crowd that
daily attended these chambers, of the lowest order of people,
the house had been facetiously christened " Ragamuffin
Hall," a name that Mr. Hyde was much displeased at, nor
could anyone offend him more than by so calling it in his
presence.

When sitting at these chambers the judges would execute
any common matters for the practitioners of the Court and
receive affidavits as the foundation for different processes
issuing. Some matter of that sort had taken me there one
evening, and while waiting for what I wanted, Mr. Solomon
Hamilton came in accompanied by a client about to apply
for letters of administration to the estate of a person
deceased, named Huggins. The petition stated the applicant
to be a nephew and next-of-kin, and that he had recently
arrived in Bengal from Europe. It then prayed that
former letters granted to a creditor might be recalled and
cancelled and fresh ones granted to him.

It appeared to me that this nephew, whose name was
likewise Huggins, was abominably drunk, and I could not
help thinking his proctor guilty of a glaring impropriety
in bringing a man in that disgraceful state to take an oath
of so important and serious a nature as that of adminis-
trator. Some doubts arising in Mr. Hyde's mind relative
to the propriety of the mode of application for recalling
letters already issued, he desired the clerk to hand him the
Charter and Act of Parliament under the authority of which
the Court was constituted. While referring to those docu-
ments, the staggering drunkard muttered out, " And BO
I am to be kept waiting here whilst you are rummaging

228 MEMOIRS^OF WILLIAM HICKEY

among your damned old musty law books, am I ? Very
pretty, by God ! " This strange and coarse speech, although
delivered in a low under- voice, nevertheless drew the
attention of Mr. Hyde, who after attentively eyeing Huggins
for a minute said, " The fellow's intoxicated. Take the
filthy beast away." Hamilton, with difficulty, got him out,
he cursing and swearing at the " damned old quiz, in his
stiff formal perriwig, with his confounded folio volumes of
chicanery."

A few evenings after the foregoing scene had occurred
Hamilton again attended with Huggins, the attorney having
previously taken care to ascertain that his client was sober.
The moment the Judge saw the petition he recollected the
former circumstance, and, addressing Huggins, said, " So I
you have again made your appearance. Are you now in a
fit state to take a solemn oath and to engage to do your
duty with fidelity should you obtain what you apply for ? "
Huggins with respectful humility answered, " Yes, my lord,"
to which Mr. Hyde replied, " I have my doubts about it."
Having, however, administered the oath and signed an
order for the citations, he said, " There, I have done it,
notwithstanding I strongly suspect you to be unworthy of
the trust. Prove that I wrong you, and when you have
obtained letters of administration do not rob the children
of your late uncle of their property."

The following is another proof of his warmth of temper,
but equally so of his genuine sensibility. A man of the name
of Sherif had acquired a handsome competence in the
situation of an assistant extra clerk in the Calcutta treasury.
This Mr. Sherif debauched a young orphan girl, who thence-
forward had cohabited with and been faithfully attached
to her seducer, in the period of seven years bearing three
children by him. At the end of that term he became
enamoured of another woman who was obtainable only
through wedlock. He therefore proposed to her, was
accepted, and became a husband, upon which event he
most ungenerously not only refused to make any provision
for his former favourite and mother of his children, but

A MISERLY BETRAYER 229

called upon the faithful and ill-used girl to give up a gold
watch, with various other trinkets and ornaments of the
person which he had presented to her at different times
whilst residing with him. The poor creature's remonstrances
against so illiberal and base a measure were unavailing.
She therefore made a representation of her case in writing
in the form of a petition, and delivered the same to Mr.
Justice Hyde, praying his lordship's interference to procure
her redress and relief.

The humane judge felt keenly for her and was indignant
at the vile conduct of her miserly betrayer ; still he was
conscious that the law did not authorize or warrant his
compelling that betrayer to provide for the unhappy woman,
or even make him restore the articles he so meanly took
from her unless she could have established by witnesses
that they had been actual gifts, which she candidly declared
she could not do, having no such proofs within her power.
Mr. Hyde, however, resolved to try the effect of endeavouring
to shame the man into an act of common justice, with
which view he issued a summons in the usual form requiring
Sherif to appear before him to answer a complaint made
against him by the ill-treated woman, upon receiving which
summons Sherif immediately took it to his lawyer to
consult with him thereon, and having thus ascertained that
the Judge could exercise no power over him upon the present
occasion he went upon the day specified to the Judge's
chambers, where Mr. Hyde civilly told him the reason of
his summoning him, expressing at the same time his hope
that what was stated had been exaggerated, and that he
could not have behaved so cruelly to an unprotected female.

Sherif, presuming upon what his lawyer had told him,
haughtily replied he did not consider himself bound to
answer interrogatories, nor to reply to extra judicial questions.
The latter phrase raised the Judge's choler, and he had, in
consequence, recourse to his usual and favourite epithets
of " impertinent blockhead and stupid ass." After a few
seconds he thus addressed Sherif, " Do you not think, sir,
such conduct will deservedly render you contemptible in

230 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

the eyes of every person of feeling, and an outcast from
society ? "

Sherif : " No, I do not, nor do I see the least reason why
it should have any such effect.'*

Judge : " Then you are wilfully blind and callous, for
are you not a robber of the worst kind ? Did you not
plunder this poor destitute girl of the only patrimony she
possessed, her chastity, and after so doing have you not
basely and infamously abandoned her to want and misery,
and yet you have the effrontery to say you are not un-
worthy the society of honest and honourable men ! "

Sherif : "I am the best judge of what is right to do and
how to govern myself in matters which belong to me alone. "

Judge : " I do not think so. You are upon the present
occasion, and I lament that such is the case, beyond the
reach of law. I possess not the power of compelling you to
be commonly just, much less generous, but such grovelling,
disgraceful sentiments as you have avowed must, I think,
speedily bring you within the clutches of the law. I shall
soon see you in a criminal court and will bear you in
remembrance."

Sherif : " If to vent your scurrility is all you summoned
me for I am not bound to wait for a continuance of it,
nor will I."

Judge : " Oh, you won't ! Then ere you depart let me
ask you one question, which if you refuse to answer I will
answer for you. What are you, or what do you call your-
self ? "

Sherif : " A gentleman ! "

Judge : " Oh ! a gentleman. What, you wear shoes, I
suppose ! Every fellow that wears shoes in this country
dubs himself gentleman. Got money, too, possibly, Mr.
Gentleman, a man of fortune ? "

Sherif : " Yes, I have ample fortune."

Judge : " How much may you be worth ? "

Sherif : " Upwards of two lacs of rupees ! "

Judge : " Upwards of two lacs of rupees, hey ? And
that you imagine constitutes a gentleman ? Why, you

THE JUDGE AND AN ILL-USED WOMAN 231

despicable wretch, an hundred lacs would not make you a
gentleman, no wealth, no sum, no circumstances could do
it. Go along. Get out, you contaminate the place. Take
care of the approaching sessions. Get out, I say, vile
wretch ! "

Sherif seemed glad to obey the rough order and retired.
The worthy Judge being thus foiled in his benevolent object,
privately gave directions to his agent to pay the girl fifty
sicca rupees every month without letting her know from
what quarter it came, and to make the first payment that
very day. This was actually done regularly for fifteen
months, when the object of his bounty having discovered
from whence the supply flowed, one morning called at his
house, and with her eyes swimming in tears of gratitude,
blessed and thanked him for his noble generosity, of which
she was no longer in need, a reputable and opulent trades-
man of Calcutta, who was perfectly well acquainted with
her private history, having proposed marriage, and pre-
viously to settle thirty thousand sicca rupees upon her, an
offer she had accepted, and therefore had no longer occasion
to trespass upon his bounty, a grateful remembrance of
which would remain indelibly fixed in her mind while life
remained. Nothing distressed this excellent man more
than his acts of benevolence becoming publicly known, for
ostentation had nothing to do with his innumerable charities .

I will mention two other rather laughable circumstances
that occurred to this truly estimable man.

On his way home from Ragamuffin Hall one night his
palankeen was stopped in the street by a young European
woman, who with bitter cries and lamentations called upon
him to do her justice, upon which, with his usual philan-
thropy, he desired her to come to his house the following
morning, and he would hear what she had to complain of.
The girl, instead of waiting until the next day, instantly
followed the Judge home. Upon her being announced, he
ordered her to be conducted upstairs where he and three
other gentlemen were just sitting down to supper. Upon
her entrance, the Judge, to the great entertainment of his

232 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

guests, rose and handed her to a seat at the table, urging
her to partake of the fare, but the poor girl's heart was too
full to allow of her eating, seeing which Mr. Hyde filled and
made her drink a large glass of madeira, which materially
relieved her. The cloth being removed, he, with the utmost
mildness, asked who and what she was, though from her
dress and the situation he had first seen her in it was pretty
evident what her occupation was. She began a piteous
tale, stating that she was of a good family in Scotland, her
name Dundas, had two brothers, the eldest a captain in
the army, the other a lieutenant in the Royal Navy ; that
when scarcely fourteen years of age she had been seduced
by a young cavalry officer, with whom she abandoned her
father's house and protection, accompanying her favourite
to various quarters in England, and finally, upon his
regiment's being ordered to the East Indies, embarked with
him for Madras. After being there a twelvemonth he lost
his life in a battle with a detachment of Tippoo's troops,
whereupon, being poor, friendless, and unknown, she pro-
ceeded to Bengal, and for upwards of a year had resided in
the house from whence she ran that evening upon his
lordship's passing, the owner, a Mr. Middleton and his
wife, having treated her with great cruelty, although she
paid them exorbitantly for her board and lodging ; that
this couple daily got intoxicated and frequently when in
that state beat her ; that they had that evening been more
savage than ever, and she verily believed had she not made
her escape into the street they would have murdered her.

This little narrative was given in a peculiarly feeling
manner, accompanied by floods of tears, and being a fine
young woman with a sweetly interesting countenance, the
Judge's humanity, which was always uppermost, led him
in strong terms to express his concern for her untoward
fate, and to add something must be done in order to extricate
her from the disgraceful state she was then living in. He
then recommended her to return home for that night and
he would send a servant with her, with a summons for
Middleton and his wife to appear before him in the morning,

BEFRIENDING A COURTEZAN 233

when he would severely censure them for their misconduct,
but against ever more entering their doors she strongly
protested, declaring she would rather remain in the street.
Finding her thus averse to returning to Middleton's, he
summoned his sirdar bearer and asked him if he could
not get a bed prepared in a spare room, to which the man
replied there was not one in the house, Mr. Wrought on
(who lived in the Judge's family) having the preceding day
sent three cots to Bareset for the use of himself and two
friends during the race week.

Old Billy Pawson (of whom I have already made some
mention as the admirer of the widow Smith, now Lady
Metcalfe) who was present, thereupon facetiously said, " I
am afraid, sir, there is no alternative but Miss Dundas's
taking half your bed, which fortunately is sufficiently large
to accommodate a partner." This speech greatly offended
Mr. Hyde. He told Mr. Pawson he was an impertinent and
stupid old blockhead. Still, he was at a loss how to dispose
of his new protege for the night, from which dilemma he
was relieved by her observing she could easily get a bed at
one of the taverns, though at the first mention of such a
retreat he did not seem to approve it. Mr. Motte, however,
assuring him there were two houses of that description kept
by orderly and discreet persons, he made no further objec-
tion, and ordered his palankeen to be prepared, bidding his
chief chubdar, with some hircarrahs, accompany it, and
upon no account to leave the lady until she was com-
fortably and safely lodged. He then handed her to his
palankeen, which was thus seen parading through the
public streets of Calcutta with one of the most notorious
courtezans in it, to the infinite entertainment of the wits
and wags of the place, But governed solely by benevolence,
the Judge was indifferent as to all the ludicrous remarks
made upon the occasion, nor would he retire to rest until
the palankeen returned and the chubdar assured him they
had left the Bibee Sahib (lady) safely housed at a respectable
tavern, the mistress of which consented to receive her in
consequence of her coming recommended by his lordship.

234 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

The other anecdote was this : An acquaintance of Mr.
Hyde's who was stationed at Rungpore sent him a bag of
walnuts, then considered a rarity, as they grew nowhere
within the Province of Bengal except at Rungpore, and
even there only one tree. Mr. Hyde being particularly fond
of that nut, conceived he had given very precise directions
to his consumah about preserving them and sending a
part to table daily as long as they lasted. He had a peculiar
way of speaking without raising his head from the book he
was reading or the paper he was writing on, and his voice
being low it was difficult to understand what he said unless
to those accustomed to his delivery. Having desired the
walnuts might be boiled in milk, the outer skin taken off,
and a plate of them put on the table with the dessert, he
proceeded to order a mango pudding, a dish he also admired.
The consumah heard something about boiling, peeling,
milk, and pudding, and being aware how much his master
disliked being obliged to repeat any orders relative to dinner,
he without requiring any further explanation chose to judge
for himself by concluding the walnuts were to be made into
a pudding. He accordingly so applied the whole quantity !
Dinner being served, after the viands were done with, the
dessert followed, when the consumah placed a most enor-
mous pudding at the head of the table before Mr. Hyde,
who all astonishment exclaimed, " What the dickens have
we got here ! I never beheld anything like this. Surely it
must have been prepared for the whole garrison of Fort
William. Pray, Mr. Consumah, what in the devil's name is
the meaning of this outrageous dish, and what may you
be pleased to call it ? " " Walnut pudding, my lord,"
answered the consumah, with his hands closed together,
a position of respect when addressing a superior. " Walnut
pudding ! Walnut pudding ! what does the brute mean by
walnut pudding ? " angrily asked the Judge. To which the
consumah replied, " My lord, order walnut to boil, and peel,
and milk, and pudding, so, my lord, I make pudding for
my lord according order." The Judge quite confounded and
almost bursting with rage, which was not decreased by the

WALNUT PUDDING 235

whole party's laughing most immoderately, looked up in
the consumah's face, saying, " You unaccountable beast,
you brute without parallel ! " Then alternately addressing
his guests and the terrified consumah, he continued, " A
walnut pudding, gentlemen ! the first, I believe, that ever
was made ! Oh, you cursed fool, you abominable stupid
ass ! Any gentleman choose a bit of walnut pudding ? Oh,
curse you ! A bit of walnut pudding, sir ? Damn you, you
beast ! " and thus he continued, upbraiding and ironically
recommending the novel sort of pudding for some minutes,
his guests being almost convulsed with laughter. One of
them then proposed tasting the extraordinary performance,
which having done he pronounced it excellent, and that it
was an admirable way of serving up walnuts though upon
rather too profuse a scale ! The gentleman's facetious re
marks entirely failed to restore the Judge's good-humour ;
he remained much out of humour the rest of the day, nor
could he with any patience hear a walnut spoken of for
a long time after.

CHAPTER XVII

THE GOVERNOR GENERAL MR. HASTINGS AND
OTHER OLD WESTMINSTER SCHOOL BOYS

IN the month of July a house upon the Esplanade, the
most airy and best situation in Calcutta, becoming vacant,
I had the good fortune to procure it, and immediately took
possession. The building itself was very old and in a decayed
state, but the beauty of the view from it and its vicinity
to the Court-house made it a most desirable residence
for me.

In the same month my friend, Eobert Pott, accomplished
his great object by obtaining the appointment of Resident
at the Durbar of the Nabob of Bengal, at the City of Moor-
shedabad, which was at that time considered as the most
lucrative office in the Company's service, the whole stipend
or salary allowed by Government to the Nabob passing
through such Resident's hands, in which channel a con-
siderable portion of it always stuck to his fingers. He had
likewise the further advantage of purchasing and paying
for every European article the Nabob wished to have.
The Resident also always held the advantageous post of
collector of the customs for Moorshedabad and Cossimbuzar.
Pott, however, did not attain these enviable situations
without paying exorbitantly for them.

As I have before stated, Pott, through the interest and
influence of Lord Thurlow, then Lord High Chancellor of
England, had been nominated to the reversion of the
Residency by the Court of Directors during his stay in
London, and it was generally known that Sir John D'Oyly,
the holder of the place at the time of Pott's return to India,
intended to resign the service and leave Bengal at the end
of the then current year, notwithstanding he gave out

236

POTT'S MAGNIFICENCE 237

that he would remain two, if not three, years longer, and
this he said in order to induce Pott, who he knew was
impatient to be in possession, to bid money as a considera-
tion for an earlier resignation.

Pott had been cautioned by several friends not to fall
into this snare and so expend his cash unnecessarily, but
such was his eagerness to get the offices that without a
pause he at once entered into a negotiation with Sir John
D'Oyly upon the subject, which ended in the baronet's
screwing him up to the hard terms of paying no less a sum
than three lacs of sicca rupees, which he pretended was
very inadequate to being an equivalent for the early vacating
the posts he filled. Sir John, however, was not contented
with even the usurious conditions Pott had yielded to, for
he further compelled him to take a parcel of trumpery old
furniture at a valuation to be fixed by Sir John's own agent,
Mr. John Burgh, who took care to value them high enough.
Thus had Pott the further sum of ninety odd thousand
sicca rupees to pay for articles he would not have accepted
as a present, and the greater part of which he ordered to be
thrown away the moment they became his property.

Exorbitant as the terms were, Pott was delighted, and
with inexpressible satisfaction took possession of the house
at Afzoulbang, distant about four miles from the City of
Moorshedabad. Magnificent as this mansion undoubtedly
was, it did not come up to the still more magnificent ideas
of my friend Robert, who forthwith began to alter the whole
plan, laying two rooms into one, building several additional
apartments and erecting an entire new staircase, making
it altogether by far the most splendid thing in India. Cer-
tainly no man living was better qualified to do so than
himself, having uncommon taste in everything relative to
houses and grounds, a qualification that cost him dear
wherever he went. Even at Burdwan, although he knew
he should continue there only a few months, he expended
no less a sum than thirty thousand rupees of his own money
in embellishments upon the house, not one rupee of which
was he ever reimbursed.

238 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

About this time a circumstance occurred that for a time
occasioned me much anxiety and uneasiness of mind.
Having one day had company to dinner I, according to
custom, drank too much claret. The party breaking up
before dusk, Colonel Mordaunt, who was one of them, asked
me to take him an airing. I therefore ordered my phaeton
and away we went as fast as the horses could gallop. Un-
fortunately the Colonel expressed a wish to go through the
fort, and I accordingly took that direction. The road was
so narrow, especially in approaching to and upon the
drawbridges, as to require a good coachman, and many
accidents had happened by carriages meeting in those parts.
I not only drove at an immense rate, but took the wrong
side. After a sharp turn, and when actually upon one of
the drawbridges, I encountered a post-chaise coming out
of the fort. How we passed each other without our wheels
coming in contact was marvellous, there literally not being
an inch spare space between the two carriages, nor from the
iron chain outside each of us. Luckily the post-chaise was
driven by a steady European postilion, who, deeming a
crash unavoidable, wisely stood still in order to lessen it
as much as possible, and I shot by him like an arrow out
of a bow. Had there been a sice with me on either side he
must have been demolished.

It was now growing dark, yet I continued my career at
the same pace through Fort William, when, turning a
corner, the pole met the breast of a soldier at that moment
crossing the road, and knocked him flat down, the horses
apparently trampling upon him and the wheels passing
over his body. Drunk as I was I instantly endeavoured to
stop the horses, when Colonel Mordaunt roared out,
" Zounds ! what should we stop for ? Clearly the man
must be killed, but as it is so near dark perhaps we may
not be known, so go on as fast as possible." I continued
my course, and we soon cleared the fort and immediately
drove home, where I sat down every moment expecting to
have it announced to me that the man was dead. The
evening, however, passed without my hearing a word

A RECKLESS DRIVE 239

about him or the accident. The next day the same, through
the whole of which I was extremely unhappy, yet anxious
to learn some tidings of the unfortunate creature I had
grievously maimed, if not killed.

The second morning, as I still remained ignorant of his
fate, I determined to know the worst and to make some
enquiries about him, for which purpose I went into the fort
and called at my friend Doctor Wilson's quarters, he then
being garrison head surgeon. After chatting upon common
topics for some time, I ventured to ask whether any accident
had recently happened within the fort, to which the Doctor
answered, " Yes, a very extraordinary one occurred two
evenings ago, a private soldier of His Majesty's 73rd Regi-
ment having been run over by Colonel Hampton's coach
and four. The fellow was taken up and carried to my
apartments. I found him insensible and, as I then really
thought, irrecoverably gone, concluding the pole of the
carriage had struck him in the breast and proved fatal,
but upon examining the body I could not discover any mark
whatsoever, nor even the smallest appearance even of a
bruise. Upon putting my hand to his wrist I was agreeably
surprized to find a strong and quick pulse. I therefore
deemed it prudent to draw a quantity of blood from the
patient, for which purpose I opened a vein in his arm, and
within an hour afterwards he so far recovered as to be able
to bear a removal to his barrack. He then positively
asserted that Colonel Hampton's coach and four had run
over him."

From this account of Doctor Wilson's I took it for granted
there had been two disasters of the same kind, but was soon
set right in that respect by Wilson's adding, " The man, it
seems, was so excessively intoxicated that he saw more than
double, for instead of a coach and four it was, as I have
since been informed, a phaeton and pair, the horses in which
had run away, so that the gentleman who was in the carriage
had no sort of control over them, nor could he with all his
exertions stop them after the accident had happened, they
running at full speed out of the fort at the Plassey Gate.

240 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

The soldier had been accustomed to see Colonel Hampton
pass about dusk to take his airing and therefore concluded
it to be his coach, but it so happened that he did not use
his carriage that day, not being quite well." I then with
much solicitude asked him how the poor man was, and
had the supreme satisfaction to hear he had not received
any very serious injury ; that he was sore from the fall arid
still confined to the garrison hospital, but would be dis-
charged therefrom the next day, and return to his duty in
two or three.

Upon this pleasing news I told Doctor Wilson the circum-
stances and that I was the disastrous wight that had done
the mischief, when he congratulated me upon having escaped
so well. The alarm it occasioned me had the good effect of
breaking me of the foolish habit of driving out when in-
ebriated, and I rarely ever did so afterwards when at all in
liquor, and never went without sices, nor drove at such a
furious rate as thentofore. I requested Doctor Wilson to
send the man to my house as soon as he should be well
enough that I might make him some pecuniary compensa-
tion for the injury I had done him.

Three days after this interview with the Doctor the man
brought me a letter from Captain Macdonal, who commanded
the regiment, and with whom I was intimately acquainted,
he, as well as myself, being a member of a very jovial society
called the Bachelors Club. In this letter Captain Macdonal
told me that having heard of the accident that had hap-
pened, and knowing the liberality of my disposition, he
took the liberty of requesting that instead of giving money
to the person I had unluckily run over, who, if I did so,
would only get into further scrapes from it by intoxicating
himself, that I would send the amount I proposed giving
him to his wife, an industrious, worthy woman, who had
with infinite credit to herself brought up and educated
four fine children. He also observed that the man was
one of the best soldiers in the regiment when sober, but
if liquor came in his way he had no command over himself,
constantly getting immoderately drunk. Upon this repre-

HOSPITALITY TO A STRANGER 241

sentation I took my friend's advice by sending this exemplary
wife and mother a handsome sum of money for the use of
herself and children, contenting myself by giving the man a
couple of gold mohurs, previously exacting from him his
honour as a soldier that he would not spend it in liquor.
He willingly gave me the promise, which he rigidly adhered
to, but feeling doubtful of his own fortitude he prudently
resolved to place himself out of temptation, and actually
gave the two gold mohurs to his wife, who purchased a
small hog, a goat, and some other trifling domestic articles
for her young family with the amount.

Captain Macdonal, who I have just mentioned, after-
wards became a Lieutenant -General and Commander -in-
Chief of the Army upon the coast of Coromandel, in which
elevated post he became involved in a serious controversy
with that contemptible upstart wretch, Sir George Barlow,
the Governor of Madras, which arose to so great a height as
finally to induce the General to resign his command and
take his passage for Europe on board the Calcutta East
Indiaman, which unfortunate vessel, together with three
others of the same fleet, went to the bottom in a gale of
wind off the south end of Madagascar, and every soul on
board perished.

Upon my return from Mr. Burke's one day, I found Mr.
Macleod, a gentleman in the Company's civil service on the
Madras establishment, waiting at my house to see me,
accompanied by a stranger whom he introduced to me by
the name of Harpur, observing he was a nephew of our
common friend, Mr. Francis Rundell, who had come to
India as an Assist ant -Surgeon in the said Company's
service, expecting to be received by his uncle. " Now,"
continued he, " as our friend Frank is absent, and myself
no more than a visitor in Calcutta, you, Hie key, must receive
and entertain Mr. Harpur until his uncle returns to the
Presidency." Thus Mr. Harpur became my guest. ' In our
first tete-a-tete he told me that he had been bred a surgeon
and had acted in that capacity for several years in a regiment
of light dragoons, when finding the pay inadequate to

III.— R

242 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

defray the expence, the style of living of the regimental mess
being extravagant, he found it prudent to accept the
appointment he then held in Bengal, which Mr. Pickett,
the great jeweller and silversmith upon Ludgate Hill, pro-
cured for him, Mr. Rundell, another uncle (the brother of
my friend Francis) then being a partner of Mr. Pickett's.

I early discovered that Mr. Harpur was a man who, if he
lived, must succeed in India ; his own interest always ap-
peared to be uppermost, and he shewed an attention in all
money matters such as I never saw surpassed by the oldest
stagers, and this was the more extraordinary, Mr. Harpur
not being more than three -and-twenty years of age. Two
days after he became an inmate in my house, while we were
sitting at the breakfast table, a native silversmith, whom he
had desired one of my servants to bring, came in. Harpur
then produced a parcel of old silver, consisting of broken
buckles, pieces of spoons, and various other articles of that
metal. After shewing the whole he asked the man if he
could work them into some particular things which he
specified. The silversmith answered, certainly he could.
The next question was how much he would require for so
doing. The man said that Europeans always charged four
annas in the rupee, to which Harpur observed, " But as
you are a Bengalee and not a European I want to know
what you will work for." The man replied he could not do
it under three annas. After disputing and cavilling for
upwards of an hour Harpur beat him down to two annas,
at which price the bargain was made. To my great surprize
Harpur then went to his room from whence he returned
with weights and scales.

After ascertaining the quantity of silver to the utmost
nicety, Harpur desired the man let him know what loss
would arise from the melting and reworking. The native
answered that he could not possibly fix it, as it must prin-
cipally depend upon the alloy that was in the different
sorts of silver. This answer, reasonable as it was, by no
means satisfied Harpur, who declared unless the loss was
previously settled he should not have the job. Disgusted

AN UNDESIRABLE GUEST 243

at the fellow's sordid disposition and contemptible mean-
ness, I told the native, in Moors, which language Harpur
did not understand, to take care and allow for the greatest
loss that possibly could happen, as it was evident he was
dealing with a most determined Jew. The workman then
fixed the wastage, of which Harpur made a memorandum
in writing.

In about a week afterwards the work was finished and
brought home, when I was suddenly alarmed by a voice
crying out piteously, " Dhoye, Sahib ! Dhoye, Sahib "
(Justice), the clamour coming from my guest's room. I
thereupon went into his chamber, where I saw Harpur and
the silversmith over the weights and scales, the latter still
roaring " Dhoye." Upon my enquiring into the cause, Mr.
Harpur told me the rascal wanted to cheat him, which he
was determined not to submit to, that although the rogue
had himself fixed the loss in reworking he now pretended
it amounted to a rupee and a quarter more than he had
calculated it at. I could not help saying, " My God ! is it
possible, sir, you can enter into such a discussion and make
so serious a matter about so very trifling a sum ? " He replied
that he never would with his eyes open yield to imposition,
and he actually deducted the rupee and a quarter from the
amount due to the silversmith, who went away bitterly
complaining of the injustice he had met with. Such shabbi-
ness gave me a very despicable opinion of my guest, and
I am sorry to add a long subsequent acquaintance afforded
me no reason ever to change it for the better.

Mr. Macleod, whom I have just mentioned, was a re-
markably clever and accomplished young man. He was
an excellent draughtsman and painter, a proficient in music
and dancing, by no means an indifferent poet, and a capital
actor, especially in genteel comedy. No wonder, therefore,
that his society was much sought after, and that he was
somewhat vain of his talents. About three years after the
period I am now speaking of he married a younger sister
of the famous Mrs. Bristow,1 Miss Wrangham, born upon

1 See p. 377.

244 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

the Island of St. Helena, who brought him a numerous
family of children. His father formerly commanded an
East Indiaman, in which line he acquired a noble fortune,
and retired from the boisterous seas to enjoy himself in
ease and splendour on shore. He settled in the country and
kept a truly hospitable house.

Mr. Hastings, the Governor-General, being a Westminster,
he annually gave a dinner to all his schoolfellows resident in
Calcutta, and very pleasant those meetings were. At the
first I attended at the Government House I was agreeably
surprised to meet my old sailing friend, Colonel Cooper,
who seemed equally gratified with myself at our once more
getting together. We sat next each other, and during the
dinner he told me that having had a cursed hard run of
bad luck at the hazard table through a whole winter, he
lost, not only his cash, but everything he could raise money
upon, and was ultimately reduced to the dire necessity of
selling his company in the Guards in order to discharge his
debts of honour ; that being thus completely ruined in
point of fortune, he had availed himself of an offer of a
friend in the India direction to send him out a cadet to
Madras where his friend, Lord Macartney, was Governor,
who might be able to promote his interest ; that upon his
arrival at Fort St. George Lord Macartney candidly told
him he could do nothing for his advantage, but strongly
advised his going on to Calcutta, where he (Lord Macartney)
had many friends in whose power it would be to serve him
(Cooper). " This," continued he, "is the way of the world.
Men in power are civil and attentive to me in this part of
the world, not from any merits of my own, but because I
am known to be a natural son of Lord Holland's, the same
influence having allowed of my still being Comptroller of
Chelsea College, a place that yields me four hundred pounds
a year, and Lord Macartney's letter to Mr. Hastings has
fixed me in the latter's family, which not only furnishes
me an excellent table and apartments free of all expence,
but gives me eight hundred sicca rupees as one of his aides-
de-camp."

DINNER WITH OLD SCHOOLFELLOWS 245

The Colonel dined with us as a Westminster, for the rest
of the family who had not been brought up at that school
were obliged either to dine out or in a private room upon
every Westminster meeting. Mr. Hastings, who was by
nature uncommonly shy and reserved, always unbent upon
these occasions and became playful as a boy, entering with
great spirit into all the laugh and nonsense of the hour,
himself reciting a number of ridiculous circumstances that
occurred in his time. His health being precarious, he was
necessarily abstemious both in eating and drinking, and
therefore when he was obliged to preside and give toasts,
had a mixture of weak wine and water prepared for himself,
with which beverage he went through all the ceremonies,
announcing the standing toasts with great regularity and
precision. After filling the chair until past midnight, by
which time a majority of the company were incapable of
swallowing any more wine, he vacated his seat and retired
unnoticed, leaving a few of us to continue our orgies until
a brilliant sun shone into the room, whereupon we rose,
staggered to our palankeens, and were conveyed to our
respective homes. In the early part of the day of this
meeting at the Governor-General's, I invited the same
company to my house that day fortnight, when they all
promised to attend except Mr. Hastings, whom etiquette
did not allow to accept of any private invitations, or to
dine with any but the members of Government or Judges
of the Supreme Court.

On the day appointed, at two o'clock, the following party
sat down to as good a dinner as could be provided, myself
being in the chair. Upon my left sat the Reverend Mr.
Owen, a pedantic, methodistical parson, then recently
arrived from England as a chaplain in the Company's service,
next to him Mr. Edward Hay, the Chief Secretary ; Mr.
John White, Mr. George Purling, Mr. Robert Adair, Mr.
Stephen Bayard, Lieutenant Lewis, Mr. John Wilton, Mr.
John Buller, Captain Gascoigne, Colonel Capper, Mr. George
Arbuthnot, who acted as Vice -President ; Mr. Cornelius
Fryer, Mr. Peter Touchet, Mr. John Chauvet, Mr. Charles

246 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

Sweedland, Mr. Francis Pierard, Captain Francklin, Mr.
Walter Fawcett, Mr. Christopher Meyer, Mr. John Bourdieu,
Mr. Robert Samuel Perreau, Mr. Samuel Adams, Colonel
Cooper, and Mr. William Burke, making our number
twenty-six. We got through the dinner admirably, my
guests being delighted with some champagne of a very
superior quality which I had provided for them.

The same company as were at my house met at Mr.
Burke 's a fortnight subsequently. At this meeting a proposal
was made, and unanimously assented to, to send a gold
cup to Doctor Vincent, then head master of the school, as
a mark of respect and attachment. An appropriate com-
plimentary inscription in Latin was prepared by some of
the gentlemen, I really do not recollect whom, but clearly
I had nothing to do with the composition, having entirely
lost the small portion of classical knowledge I acquired
while at Westminster. Be it as it may, the event proved
the work did the producers no credit. The cup, which was
very splendid, being finished, was forwarded to Doctor
Vincent by an old Westminster returning to England.
Eighteen months elapsing without any acknowledgment of
the receipt of it, the subscribers were greatly surprized
thereat, and were thinking of making enquiries as to the
cause of this extraordinary silence, when a young lad
recently from the school arrived in Bengal, who told us
that the Doctor was delighted at receiving such a token of
remembrance from his former scholars until upon perusing
the inscription he found a false concord, at which he was
excessively hurt and offended, observing he never could
receive as a compliment bad grammar from those pro-
fessing to express their gratitude for the education they had
received under him as their head master. Yet with this
correct feeling he nevertheless kept the cup ; at least, we
who sent it never heard anything more about it.

CHAPTER XVIII

A PERVERSION OF JUSTICE IN AN EXTRAORDINARY

CASE

ON the 22nd of October the fourth term of the year com-
menced, when having much business both in the Sheriff's
and my own office it became prudent to lead a more regular
life than I had done for some time before, to effect which
purpose I refused several invitations to tavern dinners.
Having a cause of importance for trial on the 29th I was
fully occupied the whole of the preceding day preparing the
papers, and had ate a fowl quietly at home and alone, then
while at table I received a note from my friend, Mr. George
Tyler, requesting me to come to him immediately upon
an urgent occasion. I accordingly went directly to his house
and found him in great agitation, though by nature he was
one of the mildest men that ever lived. There was with
him a Captain Griffin, of the Madras native cavalry, who
was upon a visit and had resided with him several weeks.
I likewise saw standing in the room one of my myrmidons,
a sheriff's officer named Frederick Deatker, by birth a
Dane, a daring, savage kind of fellow, whom from a ferocity
of manner and being remarkably ill-looking, I had always
greatly disliked, and from some irregularities I had detected
him in would long before have dismissed him the office,
but that in those days we found it extremely difficult to
procure any description of European to act in the capacity
of bailiff. He was also a constable, and considered the best
of the whole set, which made him a favourite - with the
judges, and more especially so with Mr. Justice Hyde.

Upon my reaching Mr. Tyler's, both that gentleman and
Captain Griffin complained to me in the strongest terms of

247

248 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

Deatker 's impertinent conduct. They told me that while
they were sitting at dinner Frederick Deatker, accom-
panied by another man whom they afterwards learnt was
his brother, attended by at least a dozen dirty black fellows,
burst violently into the room, ran about opening every
other door that was not locked, and appeared resolved to
ransack the whole house. The gentlemen at first imagined
the party were thieves, come to rob them, and under that
idea Captain Griffin seized and drew his regimental sabre
which was laying upon a couch. He had actually raised
his arm to make a cut at Frederick Deatker when he cried
out that he was a sheriff's officer in the performance of his
duty, having a writ to execute for a large sum of money.
Captain Griffin thereupon desired to see the writ, which
being produced proved to be against a Mr. Barnet (this
writ had come to the office two days before, when I made
out a warrant upon it, which I delivered to the bailiff with
orders to be careful and endeavour to find the defendant,
the sum sworn to being upwards of a lac of rupees). Mr.
Tyler asked Deatker what he could mean by thus riotously
and forcibly entering his house at the head of an armed
mob in search of a person who did not reside there, adding
he certainly would prosecute him for it with the utmost
rigour of the law, to which Deatker replied he knew very
well the defendant Barnet was concealed somewhere in
that house, and by God ! he would ferret him out. He then
made an attempt to force a door that was locked, whereat
Captain Griffin, with his sword in his hand, called upon
him to desist, saying, " That is my bed-chamber in which is
deposited property of mine to a large amount. If you
presume to force the door or attempt so to do, be assured
I will cut you down." Deatker made use of the most
scurrilous and abusive language, swearing he would not
leave the house until Barnet was delivered up to him. He,
however, desisted from any attempt to break open the
doors.

In this stage of the business Mr. Tyler had dispatched a
servant to summon me, as his attorney. The moment I

THE RESCUE OF A PRISONER 249

entered the room Frederick Deatker cried out, " Sir, there
has been a rescue of a prisoner from me by these two gentle-
men." Mr. Tyler and Captain Griffin replied that the
charge was false and unfounded, assuring me that Mr.
Barnet was not in the house at the time the people entered.
I told Deatker he certainly should be turned out of the office
for his violent and unjustifiable conduct, and that I would
also cause him to be dismissed from the situation of con-
stable by representing his behaviour to the judges. He
then walked off, muttering about not being supported, and
how hard it was that he should be condemned for his zeal
and wish to do his duty.

Peace, as I imagined, being restored by the scoundrel's
departure with his followers, I returned home, but about
six in the evening I was once more hastily summoned
to Mr. Tyler's, his servant telling me that both his master
and Captain Griffin had been seized by Deatker and a
large party of sepoys with fixed bayonets. I forthwith got
into my palankeen to go to Mr. Tyler's, at whose door I
found two sepoys standing sentry, with their firelocks and
bayonets fixed, a large mob being collected in the street.
Upon enquiring of the sepoys the cause of their being thus
hostilely stationed they said they had been placed there
by Mr. Deatker, and their own sergeant, a European,
having orders not to suffer any person whomsoever to pass
out from the house without Deatker's orders and per-
mission.

Upon my going upstairs I saw the sergeant, and Deatker
standing by him. Of the former I asked the reason of this
unusual and extraordinary appearance, to which he an-
swered that Mr. Deatker had a warrant from the Honourable
Mr. Justice Hyde to arrest the two gentlemen, both of whom
were charged with rescuing a prisoner from the custody
of the sheriff's officer whom they had also violently assaulted.
I then proceeded to an inner apartment, where Mr. Tyler
and Captain Griffin were surrounded by sepoys with fixed
bayonets. I demanded a sight of the authority under
which they acted, upon which Frederick Deatker took

250 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

from his pocket the same, delivering it to me, and I found
it actually bore Mr. Hyde's signature, being addressed to
Henry Grace, head constable, and to all other peace officers,
directing them, or any, or either of them, to take the body
of George Tyler, and any other person or persons who should
be pointed out by Frederick Deatker as having committed
a breach of the peace, and bring his or their body or bodies
before him at his chambers, at eight o'clock that evening.

Here was a general warrant with a witness ; one that
beat Lord Halifax's in Wilke's case quite out of the field.
Surprized at the Judge's thus trespassing the bounds of
propriety and of law, I expressed my sentiments upon it
in pretty strong terms, telling Deatker that as far as he
had been a party concerned I would visit him with the
heaviest weight of law, at which he insolently laughed,
directly observing to the European sergeant that as it yet
wanted nearly two hours of the time at which the prisoners
(for he had seized Captain Griffin as well as Mr. Tyler the
moment he entered) were to appear before his lordship he
should convey them to a place of more security than that
house, and accordingly, notwithstanding my repeated
cautions and threats of the consequences, and also of all
the sergeant could say to dissuade him from such violence,
the latter observing "the gentlemen were perfectly secure
where they were, nor did they betray the least disposition
to oppose the law," he obstinately persisted, and as the
sepoys who belonged to the town guard were, as the ser-
geant knew, particularly instructed upon all occasions to
obey the orders of peace officers who sent for them, he
(the sergeant) could not effectually oppose it, and Mr.
Frederick Deatker actually marched off the two gentlemen
under the guard of sepoys, still with fixed bayonets, through
the streets of Calcutta for near a mile to a miserable little
hole of a lower-roomed building, used as a lock-up house,
where drunken seamen or others found guilty of riotous
behaviour during the night were confined, until they could
be taken before a magistrate.

Having seen them thus infamously lodged, I went as

FALSE DEPOSITIONS 251

fast as my bearers could carry me to Mr. Hyde's, where the
servants informed me he was in his bed chamber taking
his afternoon's nap. I, however, prevailed upon his sirdar
bearer, in consequence of the peculiarity of the case, to
call him. Being admitted, I stated my business, when, as
he always was if he conceived his authority called in question,
he appeared distant and haughty at first, but soon relaxed.
He said Mr. Tyler had committed an offence that would
subject him to very severe pains and penalties. To this I
replied I was sure he had been misinformed and deceived
by Deatker, for, from my knowledge of Mr. Tyler, I could
take upon me to say he was incapable of doing anything
ungentlemanlike or violent. The Judge then produced his
minute book in which was entered the grounds whereon he
had granted the warrant. These were the deposition upon
oath of Frederick Deatker, who swore to a positive rescue.
He stated that upon his entering the room where Mr.
Tyler and others were sitting at table, one gentleman, whom
he verily believed to be Mr. Barnet, the person against
whom he had a writ of Capias, rose from his chair and ran
into an adjoining room, to which he (Deatker) attempted
to follow, but was instantly prevented by Mr. Tyler ; that
he strongly remonstrated, again telling Mr. Tyler he had a
writ against that person, at the same time producing it,
whereupon another gentleman who was present, a stranger
to him dressed in the regimentals of a cavalry officer,
jumped up, seized a broad sword which lay upon a couch,
drew it from the scabbard, flourished it over the deponent's
head, swearing if he did not instantly leave the room and
the house he would cut him to pieces, accompanying the
threat by making a violent blow at him with such sabre ;
that thinking his life in imminent danger, he suddenly
quitted the room, running downstairs as fast as he could
and going into the street, where he was standing when he
saw the under-sheriff, Mr. Hickey, arrive in his palankeen,
with whom he returned into the house and again went up-
stairs ; that to his surprize Mr. Hickey, instead of sup-
porting him as he expected he would have done, being the

252 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

acting-sheriff, began to abuse him grossly, saying he
(Deatker) should be turned out of all his places and be utterly
ruined.

I assured Mr. Hyde that the material facts thus sworn
to were gross and infamous falsehoods, and I then related
to him the very impertinent manner in which Deatker had
conducted himself, especially his dragging Mr. Tyler from
his house, together with Captain Griffin, conveying them
like felons through the public streets of Calcutta in broad
daylight, and locking them up in a wretched dungeon,
where I had left them. The Judge thereupon sent off a
chubdar with me, desiring the gentlemen might be imme-
diately brought before him. They accordingly came with
several servants who had witnessed the whole transaction,
upon hearing whose evidence Mr. Hyde released Messrs.
Tyler and Griffin, I undertaking to appear for them to any
prosecution that might be commenced against them or
either of them.

This matter made a great noise in the settlement, and
became the subject of conversation in all companies. I
put my threat into execution by turning Deatker out of
the office, and endeavoured to persuade my friend, Mr.
Morse, to take from him the constable's staff, which he
declined, from apprehending it might be deemed disrespect-
ful to the judges, or as interfering with their privileges,
they, from the courtesy of the sheriffs, having always been
paid the compliment of appointing constables.

Mr. Tyler and Captain Griffin, having resolved to make a
public example of Deatker for his violence, directed me to
commence two different actions against him of trespass,
assault, and false imprisonment. This being done accord-
ingly, in due course the causes came to trial, the defendant
having to each filed a plea of justification in which he
insisted that he acted as a peace officer, merely performing
his duty as such by executing and endeavouring to execute
processes that had been issued by a competent magistrate,
etc. etc.

The cause in which Mr. Tyler was plaintiff being the

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID 253

first called on for trial, we fully and completely established
the facts, as I have above stated them, by a variety of
witnesses, all consistent, respectable, and uniform, the
European sergeant of the town guard proving the fact of
the plaintiff's being unnecessarily forced from his house and
confined in a loathsome prison, a proceeding he (the witness)
had endeavoured to prevent by every argument in his
power, but to which the defendant paid not the smallest
attention. The defendant, on the other hand, called his
brother and three other vagabond fellows whom no person
in Court knew anything of, who swore they were present
at the whole that passed, and point blank contradicted what
our witnesses had deposed. So barefaced and flagrant was
young Deatker's falsehood and prevarication that the Chief
Judge, partial as he shewed himself, was compelled to put
his testimony aside, declaring no reliance could be placed
upon a single word he had said. Mr. Hyde's warrant and
the offices he held, as well as those of the defendant Deatker
were likewise proved.

The evidence and arguments of counsel on both sides
being closed, the Senior Judge, Sir Robert Chambers,
observed, " There unfortunately being a difference of
opinion upon the Bench, the Junior Judge will, according
to the established practice, deliver his first." Sir William
Jones then, in a speech of two hours, in the most pointed,
elegant, and nervous language reprobated the conduct of
the defendant. He said it appeared to him to be a case of
greater enormity, of more gross, wanton, and outrageous
oppression than had ever come to his knowledge as having
occurred within the British Dominions ; that the magnitude
and atrocity of the offence called upon the Court, indeed,
he conceived it was their bounden duty to shew this de-
fendant that he had transgressed in a manner that called
for the highest degree of reprobation. He further observed
that throughout his public life he had been a strenuous
advocate for the rights of Britons and liberty of the sub-
ject, and trusted his principles would remain the same to
the last hour of his existence ; that if such persons as the

254 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

defendant were permitted to act in the shameful way he
had done with impunity there was no saying to what extent
the evil might not be carried. No man would be secure
either in person or property if such a wretch, such an
abandoned, unprincipled profligate was allowed to range
uncontrolled over Calcutta under the mask of being a public
peace officer, a fellow who had availed himself of the mis-
taken privilege allowed him of ordering a body of sepoys
wheresoever he pleased, who at his word were to carry into
effect all sorts of tyranny and oppression, and this, too,
where a Supreme Court of Judicature was established to
which every individual might with the utmost ease have
recourse ; that his blood boiled at hearing the facts proved
in this case, and still more at the base attempts to meet an
unanswerable case, as he considered it, by, he was sorry to
say, not only perjury, but subornation of perjury ; that in
a case of such unparallelled outrage, so uncommon a trespass
upon everything like law or justice he felt disposed, as far
as his single and humble voice went, to visit the aggressor
with the heaviest hand, so heavy a one that though short of
imprisonment for life, should still hold him up a terrible
example of the consequences of attempting to violate the
mild and benign laws of that country he was living under
the sanction and benefit of. He, therefore, was of opinion
there ought to be a judgment for the plaintiff to the full
amount of the damages laid in the declaration.

Mr. Justice Hyde spoke next. In a few words he said he
felt rather delicately situated from the warrant that had
given rise to the action having been issued by him, but as
in his conscience he gave credit to the witnesses that had
appeared on the part of the defendant, and those witnesses
established the plea of justification, a judgment for the
defendant must necessarily follow. Sir Robert Chambers
delivered a long and incoherent rhapsody upon the case.
He agreed with his brother Hyde that the weight of evidence
was with the defendant. In the course of his speech, which
no person present could make head or tail of, he chose to
be severe upon me by remarking, " Much of the evil in this

RISKING COMMITAL FOR CONTEMPT 255

case has arisen from the impetuosity and intemperateness
of the plaintiff's attorney. Nothing serious had occurred,
nor appears likely to have occurred, until the arrival of
Mr. Hickey, who, probably heated by wine, or influenced
by some unknown motive, by the violence of his language
and conduct irritated the defendant, which was the more
unbecoming from his at the time filling the important
situation of sheriff, or, at least, deputy, -executing all the
duties of the office."

Indignant at this unhandsome attack upon my character,
unfounded, too, as it certainly was, I instantly said in a
loud voice, " Your sitting upon that Bench, Sir Robert
Chambers, does not entitle or justify your thus infamously
aspersing and libelling me. You are a contemptible animal ! "
A look of surprize pervaded the whole Court, which was
uncommonly crowded, and I believe the auditors expected
to hear and see me committed for a contempt. The despic-
able Judge, however, took not the least notice of what I said.
A judgment for the defendant followed, and pursuant to an
Act of Parliament that applied and which was made in
support of magistrates and their subordinate officers when
in the exercise of their duty, treble costs were awarded to
the defendant, Deatker. The leading counsel then turning
to me said, " I presume you will let a judgment go against
your client in the other case, of course," to which I replied,
* You certainly do presume in that opinion, for I shall do
no such thing. You must have a very strange opinion of
me and my clients to suppose they will tamely submit to
the decision of this Court. Most assuredly a reference will
be made to a higher tribunal." Captain Griffin's cause was
then called on, and nearly the same evidence given on both
sides, ending with a similar judgment. The Senior Judge,
Sir Robert Chambers, merely saying, " There must be a
judgment for the defendant with treble costs, as in the last
case." Whereupon Sir William Jones said he could not let
such a judgment be recorded in silence, nor appear to have
the sanction of his approbation, which undoubtedly it had
not, very far from it. He then with increased energy and

256 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

severity commented upon the shameful misconduct of
Deatker throughout the whole transaction, finishing a most
eloquent speech by saying in his opinion there ought to be
a judgment for the plaintiff to the full amount laid in the
declaration .

Captain Griffin appeared to feel these judgments in a
vastly greater degree than his friend, Mr. Tyler, did,
swearing he would publish the trial and send it home for
circulation throughout the Kingdom of Great Britain, that
every person might see in what manner the administration
of justice was perverted and disgraced in the Supreme Court
of Calcutta. He further resolved, if possible, to punish
the sepoys for the part they had taken in the seizure of his
person and conveyance of him to prison, and accordingly
exhibited his charges against them in a regular way to the
adjutant -general, which public officer in the usual routine
of business laid the said charges before the commander -in -
chief, who forthwith ordered that a general court martial
might be assembled to try them, in consequence whereof
the whole party were put under arrest. The Judge Advocate-
General at that time was Lieutenant Henry Piercy Monck,
who having summoned the number of native officers re-
quisite to form a Court, deemed it necessary to subpoena
Mr. Justice Hyde, myself, and some of the servants who
had been present at Mr. Tyler's, as witnesses, in pursuance
of which we attended at Barrackpore, where the court
martial sat at the quarters of the commanding officer, who
happened to be a particular friend of mine, Colonel Knudson.
The first witness called was Mr. Justice Hyde, for being in
the middle of a term his absence from the Presidency was a
public inconvenience. While the Judge was under examina-
tion relative to the warrant he had issued against Mr. Tyler
and under which Captain Griffin had also been seized and
imprisoned, one of the number of the court martial, with
the utmost composure, belched, making a loud noise in
the operation, whereupon the Judge Advocate, vexed at
what he considered disrespectful if not an absolute insult
to one of His Majesty's Judges, rebuked the black officer

MUCH GOOD MAY IT DO YOU 257

in pointed terms for his breach of good manners, finishing
his censure by asking him how he could be guilty of so
indelicate and rude an act, to which the native officer with
great sang-froid and indifference replied, " To ease my
stomach," an answer that set the auditors in one general
roar of laughter. The censure of the Judge Advocate was
delivered in the Hindostanee language, as was the man's
ridiculous though natural answer. Indeed, it was highly
absurd in Mr. Monck to notice the circumstance, because
from his experience and knowledge of Asiatic customs he
perfectly well knew that so far from thinking it a breach of
good manners to break wind upwards, the natives of India,
high and low, consider it a compliment in a guest to do so,
as showing that he has completely filled his stomach, nor
do they ever check an inclination to belch any more than a
European does to sneeze, and like us, who usually say,
" God bless you " to the person sneezing, they have a
compliment ready for the belcher signifying, " Much good
may it do you."

The moment Mr. Hyde had finished his evidence he made
his bow, and set out on his return to Calcutta.

The case on both sides being closed, the members of the
court martial retired, or rather, sent all the strangers from
the Court, in order to deliberate upon the evidence and
determine the sentence. At the expiration of an hour we
were readmitted, when the Judge Advocate announced an
acquittal of the prisoners, adding, however, and, as he said,
by the express desire of the native officers who composed
the Court, that they had so acquitted the prisoners because
they were satisfied from the evidence that they had done
nothing deserving of blame, having acted in obedience to
the orders of those they were told and understood it was
their duty to obey, but the President and members in
general hoped that after what had appeared upon the occa-
sion that the Governor-General would in his wisdom give
such orders as should in future prevent the company's
sepoys being employed upon such degrading and improper
service. Myself and several friends after the court martial

III. — S

258 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

was over were most sumptuously entertained by Colonel
Knudson, at which dinner the health of Sir William Jones
was drunk with three times three.

Soon after the extraordinary decision upon this very
extraordinary case Captain Griffin was obliged to join his
regiment upon the coast, it being ordered upon service.
Previous to leaving Bengal he called upon me to say that
whatever measures Mr. Tyler adopted in future upon the
business he also wished to be pursued on his behalf, and he
would defray the consequent expences by advancing any
sum of money that should be requisite upon application to
him. As I did not entertain a doubt but that Mr. Tyler
would appeal to the King in Council from two such in-
famous judgments, especially when encouraged thereto by
the strong dissent of that great and able Judge, Sir William
Jones, I prepared the petitions of appeal, the draughts of
which I took to Mr. Tyler for his perusal. Not having
heard anything from him respecting them during a fort-
night, I called twice or thrice at his house without meeting
him at home. I therefore wrote a note to say the limited
time for filing the petitions was near expiring, and I there-
fore wished him to return the draughts that they might be
laid before counsel, to which he answered, by letter, that after
mature consideration, and having already suffered so much
uneasiness about the business, he had rather not proceed
any further, but let it drop ! Equally surprized and vexed,
I immediately went to him to urge the propriety of his
appealing, the defendant's senior counsel having admitted
to me privately he thought the judgments so barefacedly
wrong, and so opposite to the evidence of the plaintiff's
witnesses that he was convinced they must be set aside upon
appeal. But all my arguments were unavailing, my friend
pertinaciously refusing to follow my advice. I then offered
to proceed myself for the sake of public justice, and that I
would not call upon him for a single sixpence in the progress
of the appeal, but still he resisted, entreating the matter might
drop. It accordingly did so, and thus was the infamous Dane
allowed to exult and triumph in his undeserved success.

WILLIAM BUBKE AND HIS FRIEND TYLER 259

Captain Griffin when informed of Mr. Tyler's supineness
upon the occasion was excessively offended, and instantly
wrote to me to request I would, at any rate, appeal his
cause, as he would much rather expend five thousand
guineas in law than submit to such injustice from two of
the Judges of the Supreme Court, but as the six months
allowed for filing petitions of appeal had elapsed before I
received his instructions I could do nothing for him.

Mr. Tyler, as I have already, I believe, observed, was a
determined philosopher, and possessed a most uncommon
command of temper. Nothing that could occur ever
deprived him of his suavity or composure.

Mr. William Burke was much attached to Mr. Tyler, who
often visited him and was invited to all his parties. They
frequently played backgammon for two or three hours of a
morning. Mr. Tyler, from his not being expert at the game,
nor playing with luck, generally lost, yet his antagonist's
success did not prevent him from abusing Tyler for moving
his men unskilfully, so that it was no credit to beat him.
Even the uncommon gentleness of Mr. Tyler at last gave
way to these attacks, and upon Mr. Burke's one day cursing
and swearing at him for his vile play, and that, too, after he
(Tyler) had lost three or four gammons from the mere
power of the dice, he very gravely laid down the box,
saying, " I know, sir, I am a bad player, no way equal to
encounter you, but allow me to ask if it is not rather hard
to be thus treated ? I do not like the game, and sit down
to it only to accommodate and please you. I constantly
lose my money and get scolded at and abused into the
bargain." In consequence of this speech the table was
instantly shut, soon after which Mr. Burke came up to me
and asked if I had heard what George Tyler said. I said I
had. " Then," added he, " my dear William, it is so strictly
true that I can never play with him again ; it would, and
justly, be considered equal to picking his pocket were I
ever more to invite him to it. No ! no ! I never ought,

or can."

Mr. Burke upon leaving Bengal to go to the coast, ap-

260 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

pointed Mr. Tyler his deputy to pay those regiments that
remained upon the station, a trust he executed with the
same fidelity that pervaded every transaction of his life,
yet Mr. Burke, who was himself not only the most inatten-
tive, but the most ignorant man that ever lived in public
life as to all pecuniary matters, upon the accounts being
furnished and delivered to him whereby he found that
nothing remained in his deputy's hands flew into the
most unbecoming passion, swearing outrageously that Tyler
had robbed and cheated him to an enormous amount. Poor
Mr. Tyler, sadly vexed and annoyed at so unjust an accusa-
tion, immediately waited in person upon Mr. Burke, taking
with him the whole of his books and vouchers for every
pagoda or rupee disbursed, and with a diffidence more
suited to a knave than to integrity personified, which he
undoubtedly was, humbly entreated him to allow of his
endeavouring to convince him that the accounts were
strictly correct, which he thought he could do would he
but compare the items with the vouchers. Upon this Mr.
Burke at once declared that he never thought otherwise,
making a thousand apologies for any .unguarded or hasty
expressions he might in a moment of disappointment have
made use of, and he requested no more might be said upon
the subject. Still, Mr. Tyler urged him to go over the
accounts with him, which would be a mutual satisfaction,
but Mr. Burke persisted in declining to do, so, very truly
observing he knew nothing of figures ; he was no arith-
metician. Upon Mr. Tyler's continuing importunate as
to his at least comparing the vouchers with the sums paid,
he begged to refer him to Mr. Thomas Redhead, to whom he
would speak, and had no doubt but he would inspect them
on his behalf. This being done accordingly, Mr. Redhead
found and reported to Mr. Burke that instead of there being
any balance due to him, Mr. Tyler had actually disbursed
from his own cash fifteen hundred rupees, which sum
remained due to him, and that, too, independent of all
commission, no charge whatever having been made by him
for the trouble he had bestowed upon the business.

CHAPTER XIX

WILLIAM BURKE'S TROUBLESOME PROTEGE. LORD
MACARTNEY AND COLONEL WATSON.

Ethe month of November my respectable shipmate,
Jlr. Tilghman, who had in the year 1780 proceeded to
England with his kinsman, Mr. Francis, with a view to
getting appointed into the Civil Service of the Company,
having succeeded therein by being appointed a writer on
the Bengal establishment, he returned to India, but at the
time of his arrival it gave me much concern to see he had
suffered very seriously in health and was deprived of the
use of his limbs. This malady had come on very suddenly
and without any known cause, the complaint not yielding
in the least to medicine, nor to all the exertions and skill of
the physicians. They recommended him without further
loss of time to leave India and again resort to a cold climate,
as the only chance of a complete recovery. He accordingly
followed the advice, embarking with Captain Urmston of
the ship Francis, who had brought him out. This ship,
homeward bound, touched at Madras, where, after a stay
of only eight days, she proceeded on her voyage towards
England, poor Mr. Tilghman dying two days after she
departed from Fort St. George. This able and worthy man
was a public as well as private loss. Had he been spared
he would have proved equally an ornament to his profession
and to his country.

Mr. William Dunkin, whom I found was always pitted
against Mr. Davies as an advocate, shewed me particular
attention and we lived much together. He was a native of
Ireland, of an old and most respectable family. He in-
herited an estate in the northern part of the island of about

261

262 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

fifteen hundred pounds per annum, but having been too
profuse upon his accession to his fortune he had encumbered
it. Being married and having a numerous family, he went
to India to practise at the Bar of the Supreme Court, under
a hope of thereby bettering his fortune. Mr. Dunkin and
Mr. Stephen Casson, also a young Irish barrister, kept house
together, and a very hospitable one it was.

In the month of December Captain Henry Mordaunt, who
from the period of my arrival had been upon duty in the
Upper Provinces, came to the Presidency. He not only did
me the honour to visit me, but expressed an earnest desire
to renew our intimacy, and that we might be as good friends
as formerly. As I never liked to reject a proffered kindness
from anyone I readily acceded, and invited him to dinner.

Towards Christmas Mr. Foxcroft, the Governor-General's
attorney, called upon me by desire of his client, Mr. Hastings,
to say that as tlie Governor was upon the eve of returning
to Europe he should, previous thereto, release Hicky, the
printer, from gaol by prevailing upon the judges to remit
the fines for the non-payment of which he was then detained
a prisoner, of which compassionate intention he requested
I would in the capacity of under-sheriff inform Hicky. This
I accordingly did, and in a few days afterwards that tur-
bulent man was once more at liberty. From that time he
became a warm and zealous defender and panegyrist of
Mr. Hastings and everything he had done while at the head
of affairs, forgetting how he had formerly bespattered and
abused him.

In the month of January, 1785, Mr. Hastings embarked
on board Captain Cotton's ship for Europe, being accom-
panied by Mr. John Shore, who suddenly and most un-
accountably from an inveterate and bitter enemy became
that gentleman's sworn bosom friend. From whatever
cause this change arose it proved a fortunate one for Mr.
Shore, and was the foundation of his subsequent wonderful
success, as through Mr. Hastings' influence alone he first
procured a seat in the Supreme Council, then the dignified
station of Governor-General with the rank of baronet, and

AN INSULT TO AN OLD PLAYFELLOW 263

ultimately was created an Irish peer by the title of Baron
Teignmouth. So much for the consistency of politicians !

Mr. Hastings was succeeded in the Government by John
Macpherson, Esq., who was shortly afterwards created a
baronet.

The Reverend Robartes Carr, who had been a playfellow
of mine when we were boys together at Twickenham,
arrived in Bengal the latter end of the year 1784, as one of
the chaplains of that Presidency, having been removed at
his own request from a similar situation on the Island of
St. Helena. My house was one of the first he came to, and
and I made several pleasant parties for him. At one of
these dinners where there were present Captain Ulysses
Brown, Mr. Rundell, Colonel Cooper, and Captain Cairnes,
the last-named being a fine high-spirited fellow who, having
been in the army from the early age of thirteen, was greatly
attached to the life of a soldier. At a late hour in the
evening, but whilst we were yet at table, Mr. Davison
came in. He had evidently been drinking and appeared
more violent and savage than usual, throwing the wine
about the room in all directions. As he had never been a
favourite of mine, and I had only kept up the acquaintance
out of respect to my friend, Mr. William Burke, which
Davison very well knew to be the case, I consequently felt
his impertinence the more, and without hesitation told him
in plain terms he had no right so to misconduct himself,
that if he could not behave with more propriety I should
wish him to leave my house. To this he made a saucy
answer, but still from an earnest desire to avoid a fracas
arising at my own table I curbed my rising anger and made
no reply. Not so Mr. Carr who, disgusted at his brutality,
expressed his opinion of his improper behaviour very
pointedly, whereupon Davison without further ceremony
threw a glass of wine in Mr. Carr's face. This act of indecent
violence was not to be endured ; I instantly rose from my
seat and going up to Davison told him he was not fit com-
pany for gentlemen and I insisted upon his quitting my
house. He also rose, putting his hand to the hilt of his

264 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

sword, which upon his attempting to draw I knocked him
down. Upon his getting up he made a blow at me, which I
warded off. A scuffle ensued, but my friends interfering
separated us, and they bundled him downstairs. They all
agreed that I had behaved with the utmost moderation
until his outrageous act to Mr. Carr induced me to treat
him as he deserved.

Upon the party's breaking up Captain, or, rather, Major
Cairnes, for he had obtained that rank by brevet, remained
after the rest had departed to say that as he concluded
Davison, blackguard scoundrel as he certainly was, would
call upon me to give him satisfaction for the well-deserved
chastisement I had bestowed upon him, he (Major Cairnes)
would, if I wished it, accompany me to the field, for which
kind offer I felt extremely grateful and thankfully accepted.

The following morning Mr. William Dunkin who, as well
as his namesake, Mr. James Dunkin, had been of my party
the preceding day, called to enquire whether I had heard
anything of or from Davison, and added that he had been
round to a majority of those gentlemen who were present
the evening before and had witnessed what passed, who
were unanimously of opinion that under such extraordinary
circumstances I ought not to risk my life in a personal
contest with such a fellow. Mr. Dunkin therefore entreated
that in case of Davison's sending any hostile message I
would not accept it. In order to get rid of him I promised
that I would not take any step without previously con-
sulting my friends.

Mr. Dunkin had scarcely left my door when Ensign
Bradford, who was a great crony of Davison's, was
announced. After the customary salutations he said it
was with infinite pain that he waited upon me on so
unpleasant an occasion, but that he had undertaken the
ungracious office chiefly from a hope of being able to
accommodate matters without proceeding to extremities.
He then observed that Mr. Davison considered him-
self as having been extremely ill-treated, and that how-
ever improper his own conduct might have been in the

ARRANGING A MEETING 265

first instance nothing could justify my striking him, yet
as he was conscious all parties were heated by wine at the
time he would be satisfied with my making an apology for
giving the blow, and this he (Ensign Bradford) trusted I
would agree to, as he really thought I ought.

I told him I was obliged by the kindness of the motive
that had, as he assured me, alone influenced him to inter-
fere, but that any apology from me was entirely out of the
question, the behaviour of Mr. Davison having been so
outrageous, so brutal and ungentlemanlike in every respect,
from the moment he uninvited entered my house, that in
my opinion the most abject and unqualified acknowledg-
ment on his part was indispensably necessary, more es-
pecially so for the wanton and gross insult offered by him
to a highly respectable clergyman. Mr. Bradford observed
that was a question between Mr. Carr and Mr. Davison,
having nothing to do with the indignity the latter had
suffered. I replied it certainly had to do with it as it arose
out of his unmanly violence, and which called forth my
resentment just the same as if he had struck a woman in
my presence. As we could not by any means agree upon
this point, the conference ended after fixing a meeting for
the following morning. I wrote to inform Major Cairnes
of what had occurred and to say I would call upon him in
the evening.

Major Cairnes was an Irishman, very well connected, and
inherited a fortune of about six hundred pounds a year.
When just turned of twenty-one years of age he married
a young countrywoman, the daughter of a gentleman who
resided in the neighbourhood, by whom he had a numerous
family of lovely children.

Having taken an early dinner alone, I went out to Major
Cairnes, who then resided about three miles from Calcutta.
After chatting a little with Mrs. Cairnes and noticing the
children, we retired to his study, where he shewed me a
pair of pistols, which he observed had already more than
once performed their duty admirably, and he sincerely
hoped they would not prove less decisive upon the present

266 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

occasion. He promised to be at my door rather before gun-
fire to attend me. These points being arranged, we rejoined
Mrs. Cairnes and soon after sat down to supper. We were
talking over our wine, Mrs. Cairnes having just retired for
the night, when a servant who spoke some English entered
the room, saying there was a European enquiring for me.
The Major was greatly alarmed at this notification, for
having been threatened by two or three importunate
creditors he apprehended it might be a bailiff come to arrest
him. I instantly made him pass through an inner passage,
desiring he would lock himself into the next chamber. I
then went to see who wanted me, and really thought my
friend's fears were too well founded when I saw one of my
own myrmidons. I directly addressed him, saying, " Major
Cairnes is not at home. He dined and supped in town and
is not yet returned." The bailiff, with much humility and
many bows, replied he did not want Major Cairnes, his
business being with me, and pulling a paper from his pocket
presented it to me. Conceiving it to be some document
from the office that wanted my signature, I opened it.
Upon perusal, to my inexpressible surprize, I discovered that
it was a warrant from Mr. Justice Hyde, requiring my
immediate attendance before him, being charged upon oath
with an intent to commit a breach of the peace.

After going in to allay the Major and Mrs. Cairnes 's fears,
I returned to the bailiff and told him I would obey the
order by waiting upon the Judge early in the morning. The
man, with the utmost respect, said no doubt my word
might at all times be safely relied on, but on the present
occasion I must excuse his entreating me to accompany
him to his lordship, who had told him he should not go to
bed until he had seen me, no matter how late in the night
it might be.

Upon hearing this, I ordered my palankeen and went
with the bailiff to Mr. Hyde's. Upon entering his room
he began a lecture upon my rashness and the impropriety
of a man holding the office I did of deputy sheriff pre-
meditatedly going to commit the most outrageous breach

COMPELLED TO KEEP THE PEACE 267

of the law. He further assured me that the judges had
resolved to treat with the utmost rigour any and every
person, no matter what his rank might be, who was brought
to the bar of their Court, as a murderer, for nothing short
of that title did the person deserve who deliberately went
out determining to rob a fellow-creature of life. He added
that I ought to feel truly grateful for being prevented
executing my savage purpose, and then called upon me for
security to keep the peace. I observed that at so late an
hour my friends were probably all in bed, but that I would
give the requisite security the next day if he would have the
goodness to allow me until then. Mr. Hyde replied it could
not be ; that justice must be administered with an equal
hand to the high and low, the rich and the poor. " But
this I will do," said he. "I will wait until you can by letter
summon two securities to become bail, as you are now
actually in custody and cannot be released before that be
done." I therefore wrote and sent off to Mr. William
Dunkin and Mr. Geo. Tyler. The latter living close to Mr.
Hyde's was with me in a quarter of an hour, Mr. Dunkin
within the hour, when the Judge took my recognizance in
forty thousand sicca rupees that I would keep the peace,
and each of the bail in ten thousand, and I was then dis-
charged. The following morning, as I understood, my
intended antagonist, Mr. Davison, was also taken upon the
Judge's warrant while on his way to the ground where we
were to have fought. Being conveyed before the Judge, he
was obliged to give the same amount of security I had done,
after which he was permitted to depart.

In a day or two afterwards I learnt that this had been
brought about by Mr. James Dunkin and Mr. Burke. The
latter having heard of the quarrel and conjecturing that a
hostile meeting must ensue, he resolved to prevent its taking
place, for which purpose he called upon Mr. James Dunkin
and easily prevailed upon that gentleman to attend him to
Mr. Justice Hyde to request his interference, which he
readily did by issuing his warrant upon Mr. Dunkin 's making
affidavit it was the intention of the parties to commit a

268 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

breach of the peace by meeting to fight a duel. Thus was I
prevented from, in all probability, taking the life of my
adversary or of losing my own. I took it for granted that
Mr. Davison, with his usual impetuosity and violence, would
assert that I had for the purpose of being interrupted com-
municated to some friend the time and place agreed upon
for the meeting, but in that suspicion I did him injustice
and was agreeably surprized to find that he publicly declared
it was no fault of mine and arose entirely from the mistaken
zeal of Mr. Burke and Mr. James Dunkin.

About this period Lord Macartney, who had been ap-
pointed by the Court of Directors to succeed to the office of
Governor-General, arrived in Calcutta, though not with an
intention to avail himself of the compliment paid him, for
he declined accepting the situation. His lordship took up
his abode with Mr. William Dunkin, who was an old friend
and fellow collegian.

Lord Macartney came to Bengal greatly prejudiced against
the European inhabitants for indulging themselves too
much in what he considered extreme indolence and luxury,
by constantly going about in carriages or palankeens instead
of making use of their legs, as the less assuming residents
of Fort St. George did, and always had done. Another
instance he gave of the Bengal gentlemen's unnecessary
extravagance was their using punkahs or hanging fans,
suspended by ropes to the ceiling, to cool them while eating
their meals. In vain was he assured that walking could
not be adopted in Bengal, the sun most certainly having an
effect it had not upon the coast of Coromandel, or in other
parts of India, and that no European could expose himself
to its meridian influence without feeling the ill-effects and
suffering materially in health. This he asserted was a
mistaken and absurd prejudice, which, at any rate, he would
not give in to. He accordingly sallied forth on foot, without
either palankeen or a bearer with a chatta, contenting him-
self with carrying a small one in his own hand without
deigning to open it. He was, however, soon compelled to
do as other people did. By thus setting the sun at defiance

LORD MACARTNEY COURTS SUNSTROKE 269

he lost his appetite, had frequent headache, a pain he never
had previously been subject to, and one day in particular
returned from one of his walks with a considerable degree
of fever upon him, all which evils the physicians assured
him arose from exposing himself to the burning rays of
the sun. Being convinced of his error, he ceased his walks
and speedily recovered his health.

In the month of February, 1785, my friend, Colonel
Watson, resigned his post of chief engineer, with the in-
tention of going home, being succeeded by my good-
humoured shipmate, Major Mestayer, who thereby obtained
the rank of lieutenant -colonel. After holding the situation
only one week, he also vacated it, and engaged a passage
for Europe in the same ship with Colonel Watson, as did
also Major Metcalfe and his wife, likewise my brother
Westminster, John Scawen, whose object was to get himself
confirmed in the office of military auditor-general, to which
he had been appointed by the Court of Directors, but could
not get possession, the Government of Bengal not choosing
to turn out the gentleman who at that time executed the
duties thereof much to their satisfaction.

Colonel Watson was so greatly attached to Bengal that
he never would have quitted it had not his health failed.
He was a convincing proof of what I have already remarked
as to the injurious effects of the sun in Bengal, as he for
many years thought exactly as Lord Macartney did on that
subject ; he was constantly out from morning till night
in it, "and though he had several fevers in consequence,
never would allow that they were brought on by the sun.
At last, however, his original vigorous constitution was so
seriously impaired that he was driven to the necessity of
trying the effect of change of climate.

The whole party embarked on board the Deptford, com-
manded by Captain Gerard. After they had been two
months at sea Colonel Watson became so much worse he
could not leave his bed, and his death was hourly expected.
About a week previous to their reaching the Island of St.
Helena he was pronounced by the doctor to be at the last

270 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

gasp. Perfectly conscious of his dangerous state, although
his intellect remained strong, he determined to make a new
will, not having then made any provision for his wife. For
this purpose he requested Messieurs Mestayer and Metcalfe
to meet in his cabin and commit his wishes on that head
to writing. They accordingly went, when after he had
stated to them the heads of his intention, he became languid,
seeming to have an inclination to sleep, upon which Major
Metoalfe said they had better postpone any further pro-
ceeding until the evening when he would be rested. To
this the Colonel assented, remarking, however, to the two
gentlemen that the framing of his will could not occupy
many minutes of their time, as his instructions to his
executors would be that whatever property he died possessed
of should be divided into three parts, one-third to be paid
to his natural daughter, then residing in England, one-third
to his wife, the remaining third to be applied to the prose-
cution of his claims upon the East India Company, and when
those claims should have been established and the amount
recovered by his executors to pay over the same to his said
daughter as her sole property. " However," added he,
" we will arrange all circumstances and nominate executors
after your dinner."

The gentlemen then left the cabin and the Colonel fell
into a profound sleep in which he continued until a late
hour in the evening, and nothing further was done that day
respecting the will. The next morning, to the surprize of
the doctor, and every person on board, he was infinitely
better, and continued improving in health until the ship's
arrival at St. Helena. Upon landing on that salubrious
spot he continued to mend, so that no more was said about
the will. Between St. Helena and England he again
declined, gradually becoming weaker and weaker, so that
it was scarcely expected he would live to reach England ;
his friends on board therefore several times reminded him
of the propriety of making a will, which he always declined,
saying he was sure he should survive, and would prefer
doing it on shore where he should be more at ease. When

THE DEATH OF COLONEL WATSON 271

the Deptford arrived off Dover he lay in a state of insensi-
bility. He was, however, carefully conveyed on shore, put
into comfortable lodgings, and every degree of care and
attention shewn him. On the second morning after his
thus being landed he departed this life.

Upon examining the Colonel's private papers a will was
found bearing date in April, 1777, which he had made while
we lay windbound at Portsmouth when going out to India
in the Sea Horse (Captain Arthur). By this will he be-
queathed the whole of his fortune both real and personal of
every description, and wheresoever it might be, to his
natural daughter, she being at that time at a school in the
country, and no more than six years of age. Thus was his
unfortunate widow left nearly destitute, as almost all he
possessed was personal, consequently there was nothing
for her to expect dowry from except the dock lands in the
neighbourhood of Calcutta. The daughter thus came into
a fortune of upwards of three hundred thousand pounds.
A few years after her father's death she married Lord
Carbery, an Irish baron.

In the year 1786 Mrs. Watson went out again to Bengal
to try what could be done relative to the landed property.
She was advised to apply for administration, and having
obtained the same received a very considerable sum as
commission upon sale of an immense quantity of naval and
other stores, but what ultimately turned out of much more
advantage to her, she became acquainted with Lieutenant
Nowell, of the Company's military service, who shortly
afterwards quitted the army to engage in making indigo,
by which he amassed a prodigious fortune, married her,
and they are now enjoying themselves amidst the highest
degree of splendour in England.

My friend Scawen having accomplished the object of his
trip to England, resolved to return to India on a French
ship, he being very partial to that nation. After -only a
few months' stay in London, he set off for L' Orient, taking
Paris in his way to that port. While residing in the French
capital he met with two young ladies he had known in

272 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

England, the daughters of a Mr. Kilpatrick, a celebrated
gay and dissipated London beau and sportsman. These
girls Scawen prevailed on to accompany him to the East.
Scandal gave out that during the voyage he enjoyed all
the privileges of a husband without the solemn tie with the
eldest, a very charming creature. Be that as it may, they
arrived together in Bengal, where she continued under
Scawen's protection. Soon after Mr. Davison's coming
to Calcutta he was struck with the beauty and accom-
plishments of Miss Kilpatrick and proposed marriage. As
she did not like him, on the contrary avowed an utter
detestation, she peremptorily refused his offer. He, never-
theless, persevered in his attentions, following wherever
she went, and as he gained over Scawen to his interest the
fellow had frequent opportunities of persecuting her with
his love. Mr. Burke likewise became a strenuous advocate
for his protege, so that the poor girl was tormented in all
directions.

After being persecuted for several months Miss Kil-
patrick, in sullen despair, yielded to the importunities of
her supposed friends, and was led a miserable victim to the
altar. Just before the sacred ceremony was to commence
she fell upon her knees to Davison, beseeching him with
floods of tears not to render her and himself wretched by
forming a connection she could not think of with any other
sentiment than horror and disgust ; that having no human
beings in India to look up to for protection, advice, and
support except her sister and Mr. Scawen she had, con-
trary to her own inclination, yielded to their solicitations.
Still, she hoped he would not force her into a state from
which nothing but misery could arise, for she actually hated
and detested him. Davison continuing inexorable to her
prayers and supplications, the ceremony went on, during
which something extraordinary seemed to be working in
her mind. When finished (although she had not made one
of the responses) the husband appeared quite happy.
With a free-and-easy air he approached, offering to salute
her, whereupon she pushed him from her, and turning to

A BRUTAL HUSBAND 273

her sister, Mr. Burke, and Scawen, she thus addressed
them in the tone and accent of despair : "I have yielded
to your cruel persuasions, for I was a poor forlorn, helpless
creature, without one human being with compassion
enough to befriend or protect me. What your object has
been in such tyranny is best known to yourselves. In my
sister it was natural for me to look for consolation and
support, but she chose to join my persecutors and condemn
me to death. God forgive her. For you, sir," said she,
turning to Mr. Davison, " who have thus ungenerously and
basely forced me to become your nominal wife, I here
swear," and she dropped upon her knees, "by the great
and almighty God you never shall know me as such, never
pollute my person by your loathed embrace, nor will I
ever be more your wife than in the accursed name, so help
me God, in my last moments which are fast approaching."

The brutal husband thereupon, with the ferocity of a
tiger, seized her by the hair of her head and forcibly dragged
her into the adjoining chamber. The party were thunder-
struck, nor did anyone offer to interfere until Mr. Burke,
shocked at her piercing cries, followed them. Upon seeing
Davison with one hand fixed in her beautiful tresses and
beating her with the other, he attempted to lay hold of
him, when the monster quitted his unhappy wife, and
seizing Mr. Burke by the throat would soon have strangled
him had he not been rescued by his servants, aided by Mr.
Scawen and the clergyman who had performed the marriage
ceremony.

Altogether there never was so extraordinary a scene ;
the poor girl lay in a fainting fit, while Mr. Burke ran about
the house like a maniac, crying, " Murder ! Murder ! Get
a constable, get a constable." In about an hour the wife
recovered, and with much difficulty Davison was prevailed
upon not to molest her. Retiring to her bedchamber she
there locked herself in. Rigidly did she adhere, to her
resolution of not allowing him to touch her. Three days
after the wedding the ill-suited pair embarked for Madras,
and upon the passage the miserable girl departed this life,

III.— T

274

MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

most certainly dying of a broken heart. The unfeeling
savage of a husband directly returned to Bengal, where it
might reasonably have been supposed he never would have
wished to shew his face again ; but what is more strange
and unaccountable Mr. William Burke once more received
him into his house, seeming as much attached to him as if
nothing had occurred to render him unworthy his intimacy
or acquaintance.

CHAPTER XX

A VISIT TO BOB POTT IN HIS PALACE

IN the month of April Mr. Benjamin Mee arrived from
England. This gentleman was the only son of a very
respectable merchant of the City of London, who had for
many years been an active director of the Bank of England.
Mr. Benjamin Mee was brother to Lady Viscountess Palmer -
ston. He had led a gay and extravagant life which, added
to some speculations he engaged in turning out unluckily,
so far involved him in debt that upon a final settlement
with his creditors little of his property remained. Being,
however, of an active mind and in the prime of life he did
not despond. Some of his city friends advising him to try
India, he accepted the appointment of a cadet for Bengal,
not with any intention of continuing in the army, but merely
to get to the East Indies with the sanction of the Company.
He was a man of the most insinuating and engaging manners.
I was early introduced to him, and from that day we became
sworn friends.

Immediately after Mr. Mee's arrival in Calcutta he re-
signed his cadet ship and entered into the firm of the Bengal
Bank, the other partners then being my two friends Mr.
Jacob Rider and Major Metcalfe. The emoluments of the
business were immense, their notes being as current as
cash all over the British territories in Asia, and in circula-
tion to an amount almost incredible. But as men do not
always act wisely or attend to what is, in fact, their own
interest, these gentlemen instead of minding their bank
and that only, as they clearly ought to have done, embarked
in a variety of different schemes, some of which failed,

275

276 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

hurting their credit, involving them in disputes and litiga-
tion, and finally, at the end of some years, completely
ruining the bank.

In the same ship with Mr. Mee there also came out Mr.
Thomas Henchman, one of the most clear-headed and
shrewdest men the East India Company ever had in their
employ. After a residence of several years in Bengal,
during which he had been a contractor for supplying piece
goods for the Europe market on account of the Company,
he himself returned home to recruit his health, which being
completely restored in the course of three years he at the
end of that term again visited the East, and was imme-
diately put into the important and high situation of Military
Paymaster-General, that office becoming vacant by the
resignation of Mr. Claud Alexander, afterwards created a
peer by the title of Lord Caledon.

My friend, Bob Pott, now consigned to me from Moor-
shedabad a very pretty little native girl, whom he recom-
mended for my own private use. Her name was Kiraun.
After cohabiting with her a twelvemonth she produced me
a young gentleman whom I certainly imagined to be of my
own begetting, though somewhat surprized at the darkness
of my son and heir's complexion ; still, that surprize did not
amount to any suspicion of the fidelity of my companion.
Young Mahogany was therefore received and acknowledged
as my offspring, until returning from the country one day
quite unexpectedly, and entering Madam Kiraun's apart-
ments by a private door of which I had a key, I found her
closely locked in the arms of a handsome lad, one of my
kitmuddars with the infant by her side, all three being in
a deep sleep, from which I awakened the two elders. After
a few questions I clearly ascertained that this young man
had partaken of Kiraun's personal favours jointly with me
from the first month of her residing in my house, and that
my friend Mahogany was fully entitled to the deep tinge of
skin he came into the world with, being the produce of their
continued amour. I consequently got rid of my lady, of
her favourite, and the child, although she soon afterwards

IN THE STYLE OF A PRINCE 277

from falling into distress became a monthly pensioner of
mine, and continued so during the many years I remained
in Bengal.

Major Russell having been much indisposed during
several months with dysentery which he could not get rid
of, was recommended to try the effect of change of air.
He, in compliance with that advice, proposed proceeding
up to Pott's at Afzoulbang, pressing me to go with him,
which I agreed to do. A noble pinnace being prepared, and
abundance of provisions and liquors laid in, we embarked
and had a very pleasant voyage, stopping to take a look
at Plassey House, and the famous plain where Lord Clive
many years before fought a great and decisive battle,
obtaining a complete victory over the Nabob's army. In
eight days we reached Pott's residence at Afzoulbang,
beautifully situated on the banks of the Cossimbuzar River,
distant about three miles from the military cantonments of
Berhampore and two from the city of Moorshedabad, or,
as the natives pronounce it, Muxadavad, in which city
the Nabob of Bengal usually resides.

Pott's house, or, rather, palace, for such it might fairly
be called, was most splendidly furnished, everything being
in a style of princely magnificence. He received the Major
and me with the cordiality and warmth of an old and
attached friend. I had a suite of apartments allotted to
me of the completest kind, with warm and cold baths
belonging exclusively to them, and every other luxury of
the East.

The morning after our arrival Pott proposed taking me
in his phaeton to Berhampore, when to my utter astonish-
ment upon descending the grand staircase, which was lined
on both sides with servants, all of whom respectfully
salamed him as he passed, and going into the courtyard, I
saw a party of light horse drawn up, dressed in rich uniforms
and mounted upon beautiful Arabian horses. The men
upon our entering the carriage saluted with their sabres.
Upon my enquiring in a low voice of Pott the meaning of
this, he laughingly replied they were part of his body-

278 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

guard, consisting of sixty, and that he never moved from
home without their attendance. When Pott took hold of
the reins two of the troopers immediately preceded us, ten
others following us. Thus escorted away we dashed to Ber-
hampore, where we visited Colonel Forbes, the Commanding
Officer of the station, Colonel Brisco, the second, and other
officers of rank.

After inspecting the barracks for the soldiers, both
European and native, and other public buildings, we went
to pay our respects to my old friends, Mr. and Mrs. Keighly,
at Cossimbuzar, of which factory he was chief. On our
way home we stopped to see Mr. Edward Fenwick, the
gentleman who gave the famous fete champetre at his
garden near Calcutta, of which I have before made mention.
He was now Commercial Resident at Moorshedabad. We
also left our names at the houses of several other gentlemen
who held civil appointments in that part of the country,
after which we returned home to dress for dinner.

At two o'clock we sat down to a sumptuous entertain-
ment with nearly thirty persons. Mr. Pott's inmates at
that time, besides Major Russell and myself, were Mr. and
Mrs. Burgh, Mr. and Mrs. Lindsay, The Honourable David
Anstruther, who commanded the Nabob's bodyguard, his
lady, Miss Donaldson, Mrs. Anstruther 's sister, and Mr.
Farrington, the landscape painter.1 His own immediate
family consisted of his cousin, George Cruttenden, Mr.
Trant, Mr. Ley, and Doctor Glass, surgeon to the Resident
at the Durbar. Every individual in the house ordered
carriages or saddle-horses as they pleased, to take the air
morning and evening, Pott's head coachman always taking
care to retain some particular vehicle for his master's use,
generally a phaeton.

Upon my first arrival at Afzoulbang Pott announced to
all his company, both male and female, that as the duties
of my profession made it impossible for me to be long absent
from the Presidency he should during my stay at his house

1 Probably the artist, George Farington, a brother of Joseph Faring-
ton, B.A., the landscape painter, whose diary is now in course of publica-
tion. George died at Moorshedabad in 1788, — ED,

BREAKFAST WITH THE NABOB 279

attend to me exclusively, and take me out constantly in
order to shew me all that was worth the inspection of a
stranger, and this he adhered to faithfully, daily varying
the direction of our drive. Thus time glided away almost
imperceptibly. Amongst other excursions he took me to
the Nabob's palace in the city, having the evening before
sent word to His Highness that he should the following
morning bring the most particular friend he had in the
world to breakfast with him. The Nabob received us with
the utmost politeness and affability, giving an excellent
breakfast, quite in the English taste, after which he took
me round his noble suite of apartments, his gardens,
menagerie, aviary, and stud of horses. Upon our departure
he presented me with a pair of beautiful shawls.

During our drive to Afzoulbang I observed a mendicant
at the side of the road. He appeared to be a cripple, and
made a prodigious noise, accompanied with much gesticu-
lation. Pott, in passing, threw him a rupee, of which the
fellow took not the smallest notice, continuing his clamour
with a volubility I never heard equalled. Pott, seeing me
look surprized, asked if I understood what the man said. I
answered that I did not know one word he uttered, but
from his manner I should have supposed him angry at
something. Pott then told me he was abusing him, as he
always did, for giving so little, saying, " Aye, you Haram-
zada ! you consider yourself a charitable man ! A Behaudur,
a Ballattee Behaudur. You pompously throw me down a
pitiful rupee and think yourself wonderfully munificent !
But what is a rupee ? You ought to give a hundred ! Have
you not built for yourself a splendid mansion, whilst I am
grovelling on the bare earth ? Have you not a swarm of
servants watching your wants while the flies and insects are
eating me up ! You have carriages and you have horses
with troopers galloping at your heels to raise the dust and
choke poor men like me, and with all that you think much
of bestowing a dirty rupee upon a Brahmin who is your
superior ! Fie upon you ! Will such charity give you a
passport to the regions of bliss ? No, I tell you, no. You'll

280 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

go where all such Behaudur haramzadas ought, to the devil,
who will reward your pomps and your state with stripes out
of number ! " " But how is it possible, my dear Robert,"
asked I, " that you can have heard all this flying by at the
rate we did ? " " Oh," replied he, " I have stopped more
than once for the express purpose of ascertaining the words
that accompanied his furious action, and found them in-
variably to the same purport, and always gross abuse, and
this would be the case were I to pass him ten times a day."

Three days after we had been to the Nabob's he came in
great state to return the visit, when he invited the whole of
Pott's party to a supper and display of fireworks the follow-
ing evening, to which we went and were magnificently
entertained.

Our next excursion was to see a herd of monkeys or
baboons to the amount of several thousands. They in-
habited a mango grove about five miles from Moorshedabad,
are of an immense size, at a short distance excessively like a
parcel of Bengalees assembled together. From the frequent
visits made to them by strangers they are become familiar,
and came round us quite close in vast numbers, grinning,
chattering, and making a variety of strange noises and
contortions. In fact, I by no means relished their proximity,
nor could I entirely divest myself of an apprehension that
they would attack us. I was, however, informed there was
not the least danger, and that their apparent anxiety and
the hideous noises they made only shewed their desire to
partake of the cakes and sweetmeats they knew we had,
according to custom, brought for them. These articles
Pott's servants had, but were ordered to keep out of sight in
order to shew me their vehement impatience. The cakes,
etc., being produced and delivered to the leaders of the band,
for leaders or chiefs they undoubtedly have, and none others
presumed to touch a single thing, they went off to their
respective trees, making an abominable yell as they scamp-
ered away, not very unlike what I remember in Westminster
School upon an unexpected holiday, or as it is there called
" An early play,"

DESERTED ON THE BURNING PLAIN 281

Having spent a very agreeable fortnight at Afzoulbang,
I took my leave, my companion upwards, Major Russell,
intending to remain there some time longer, and after supper
on the 1st of May I got into a buggy of Pott's and set off,
he having sent on two horses to convey me to Plassey House,
where my palankeen and dawk bearers were, into which I
stepped. Many, indeed most, men can sleep in their
palankeens, but as that was not my case that mode of
travelling was exceedingly disagreeable and irksome to me.
The bearers usually move, including change of men, at the
rate of four miles an hour, proceeding by night even faster
than in the day, which makes travelling tolerably quick,
bangys carrying the baggage, which, of course, is always as
little as possible. After going two stages, each stage being
about eight miles, from some mistake, which rarely occurs,
there were no fresh bearers, and those who carried me
thither declared themselves totally unable to go any further,
the weather being most oppressively hot. Unfortunately,
too, the then next stage was an uncommonly long one,
being full ten miles.

I was set down in a village with a hope that fresh bearers
might be looked for every moment, but after waiting more
than an hour, I became very uneasy. At length, by means
of bribery, which operates alike upon all men in all climates,
I prevailed upon the same set to go on. They took up the
palankeen. Their pace, however, was uncommonly slow,
rough, and tiresome. After carrying me six miles they set
me down in the middle of an immense plain where not a
tree was to be seen in any direction nearer than two miles,
the sun being actually like a furnace. Here they declared
their incapability of going a yard further. All my remon-
strances, entreaties, and promises were equally fruitless ;
they would not budge a foot. After talking together some
minutes in their own unintelligible jargon off they all ran in
a body, leaving me under the influence of such heat as I
never before experienced, nor shall I ever forget it. I really
thought I must have ended my life on the burning plain of
Mirzapore.

282 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

With a sorrowful heart I looked after the bearers, who I saw
running towards a tope or grove about three miles off !
What to do with myself I knew not ; my mouth and throat
were parched almost to suffocation ; not a morsel of victuals
or drop of water to allay my dreadful thirst, and this in a
heat no one can have an idea of except those unhappy men
who were shut up in the Black Hole in Calcutta in the year
1757. Yet in this horrid situation was I doomed to remain,
nor was the prospect of approaching night very consoling,
as that part of the country abounded with tigers, which
animal as soon as it became dark generally forsook their
thick jungles to search for food in more open parts. Nor
could I attempt to proceed on foot, being utterly at a loss
which way to bend my course, and having no one object in
sight to direct me. In a state little short of despair, I lay
myself down in my palankeen.

At the end of two tedious hours I had the inexpressible
satisfaction to see several persons approaching. They
proved to be my bearers, who returned apparently much
recruited in spirits. They told me they had found them-
selves so completely exhausted from the intense heat that
to proceed was not in their power, therefore they went to a
tank which they knew was within about two miles and a half,
where they had recruited their strength by bathing and
eating mangoes, afterwards laying down under the shade of
the trees and sleeping an hour. They therefore said they
could now carry me the rest of the stage. Never in my life
was I more rejoiced than at getting over that abominable
sultry plain. At the first village I came to I procured a
water-melon, which, insipid as that fruit is, I found the most
delicious thing I had ever tasted.

At four in the afternoon I reached Hooghly, thirty miles
from Calcutta. Here Mr. Kinloch, a friend of mine, resided,
and I determined to stop at his house to get some refresh-
ment. Upon calling at his door, I learnt from the servants
that their master had been out three days upon a hunting
party and was not expected back until the end of the week.
Observing I looked fatigued, the consumah invited me in,

" POLL PUFF 5! 283

saying he would get me some dinner as quickly ae possible.
He kept his word, for in less than an hour I sat down to an
excellent dinner, with a bottle of capital good claret, made
cold as ice. Most perfectly did I enjoy the meal. My friend
the consumah then shewed me into a handsome bedchamber,
which he pressed me to occupy, saying his master would be
very angry with him if he let any guest leave the house to
travel until properly rested. I thanked the man for his
attention, but being anxious to reach home, I resumed my
seat in my palankeen about seven o'clock in the evening
and continued my journey. A little after two in the morning
I was on my own bed in Calcutta.

Upon rising to breakfast I found, amongst various other
notes of invitations to dinner parties, one to a Westminster
meeting to be given by Mr. Hay the following week. At
this I attended, and a very jovial day we had. Conversing
over our wine one of the party mentioned " Poll Puff," a
well-known and interesting body to us all. This Madam
Poll Puff every morning at the opening of the school took
her station at the great gate with a deep basket rilled with
most exquisite apple puffs, from which she derived her name,
the price of each being threepence ; but she would divide
one, of course, the charge being three-halfpence. This
occupation she had followed upwards of thirty years, becom-
ing grey in the service. Mr. Wilton proposed a subscription
to enable her to live with comfort when age and infirmity
should render her unequal of attending to her business. He
mentioned one hundred pounds as a proper sum to present
her with, to which some of the gravest and most considerate
gentlemen present objected, for that if she was not more
prudent than persons in her line of life usually were it might
prove her death, and thus we should be killing her with
kindness. After much discussion and debate as to the best
plan to be adopted for her benefit, a majority voted for
purchasing a small annuity (twenty pounds per annum was
finally agreed upon) so as to provide the necessary comforts
for her in old age and yet not encourage the vice of dram
drinking to excess, to which she was known to be addicted.

284 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

The requisite sum was immediately raised, and the amount
remitted to Sir Elijah Impey in London, accompanied by a
letter from his brother Westminsters of Calcutta, requesting
him to direct his attorney to purchase the annuity. This
commission the Judge kindly executed, and if the poor
woman be still in the land of the living she enjoys the benefit
of her former youthful friends' recollection of her.

One would hardly have thought that an act like the fore-
going could have been disapproved of by any man, or set of
men, especially as it was so much within bounds and un-
ostentatiously moderate, but within three months after the
donation a paragraph appeared in one of the daily news-
papers published in London, in the severest terms, repro-
bating the general propensity to folly and extravagance
betrayed by every East Indian or Nabob, as they were
designated, whose sole object, the ill-natured writer ob-
served, was to squander the enormous wealth acquired by
plunder and extortion in every species of absurd profusion,
in proof of which, and to satisfy the public that it was not
an unfounded or illiberal accusation, they could confidently
assure their readers from undoubted authority that a set of
men residing in Bengal, at a loss how otherwise to expose
their prodigality had actually lavished a very large sum of
money in the purchase of a handsome annuity for an old pie
woman, of whom they had occasionally bought a penny tart
when schoolboys ! So much for the base perversion of a
meritorious action.

Upon Mr. Hastings quitting the President's chair to
return to Europe he turned over my friend Colonel Cooper
to the protection and patronage of his successor as Governor-
General, John Macpherson, Esq., who, in consequence,
continued him in the situation of an aide-de-camp, an
absolute sinecure, the Colonel never attending except when
he heard there was likely to be a pleasant party at the
Government House. Colonel Cooper resided in a com-
modious bungalow on the opposite side of the river to
Calcutta, where he kept a beautiful Hindostanee woman
to whom he was greatly attached, and who returned his

SEEING COLONEL COOPER HOME 285

kindnesses by every degree of respectful attention in her
power to bestow, the most important part of which was her
zealous endeavours to wean him from the destructive and
baneful practice of drinking brandy or other spirits pro-
fusely, and even in the morning. This she in some measure
succeeded in, though it was only effected by locking up the
liquors and peremptorily refusing to let him have any
except at meals.

The Colonel and I being engaged to dine with Mr. Woolley,
of sporting celebrity, we agreed to go together in the
Colonel's boat, Mr. Woolley's residence being at the lower
end of Garden Reach. Colonel Cooper, according to custom,
got excessively drunk with his favourite wine, champagne,
and as usual when in that state had no inclination to leave
the bottle, although the rest of the gentlemen had long before
departed. As I considered myself in some measure bound
to see him safe home, I reminded him it was getting late and
we had better move. It was, however, near midnight ere I
could prevail upon him to stir, when with the assistance of
the servants we got him into the boat.

In our way up the river we passed the Honourable Mr.
Charles Stuart's house, then a Member of the Supreme
Council. Colonel Cooper, perceiving lights in the hall, in-
sisted in spite of my most violent remonstrances, and my
stating the unseasonable hour, that he would pay him a
visit, for which purpose he ordered his mangee to steer to
the shore. Upon reaching the bank I, at first, determined
not to leave the boat, but seeing he could not walk, and he
begging me to go in with him only for five minutes, I con-
sented. Upon entering the supper-room we found a large
party of ladies and gentlemen who had spent the day there,
and who had just given directions for their carriages to be
prepared. Mr. Stuart, who was one of the best bred men,
appeared much distressed at Colonel Cooper's coming in so
disguised in liquor, and appeared at a loss how to act.
Cooper seeing amongst the company Mr. Titsing, the Dutch
Governor of Chinsurah, staggered up to him to shake hands
and soon proposed " A glass of Hollands." While they were

286 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

taking it Mr. Stuart attended his female guests to their
carriages. Upon his return Mr. Titsing whispered him to
leave Cooper to his management and go to bed. This he
did, apologizing to me who he saw was not so much intoxi-
cated as my friend.

The moment Mr. Stuart was gone, Mr. Titsing, drawing
his chair close to Cooper's, said with his foreign accent and
delivery, " Come, Co-lo-nel, you and I shall drink anoder
glass of de Yin (for gin)," and he filled his own and Cooper's
glasses. This was exactly what Cooper liked, and he chucked
off the contents. In half a minute Mr. Titsing again said,
" Come, anoder glass, Co-lo-nel," filling both as before.
These were as quickly swallowed as the former. In an
instant Mynheer proposed and filled anoder : Cooper stared,
but after a little pause drank the contents, when Mr. Titsing
once more replenished the glasses, whereupon Cooper hic-
cupped out, " Zounds ! " to which Mr. Titsing answered,
" This is noting, noting at all. It is waters to me ! Come,
Co-lo-nel, anoder." With a sudden effort Cooper rose from
his chair ; he would, however, have fallen had I not caught
hold of him and proposed re-embarking, to which he made
not the least objection.

Had it not been for this considerate interference of the
Dutch Governor, who literally could drink gin like water,
the Colonel would have sat at table and annoyed Mr. Stuart
until morning, for when once he became intoxicated there
was scarce a possibility of getting rid of him. I have more
than once been obliged, with some degree of violence, to
have him carried bodily away by the servants in the very
chair he sat upon.

About the time I am now writing of I became subject
to dreadful attacks of spasm in my stomach, which greatly
alarmed the medical man who attended me. I fancied that
bleeding would be of service, though so great a prejudice
prevails against taking away blood in India that it is scarcely
ever done. Upon my first requesting to try the effect upon
me, he exclaimed, " Not I, indeed. Do you think I'm mad ? "
These attacks were constantly attended with faintness, with

THE PRACTICE OF BLEEDING 287

the most distressing depression of spirits and violent cold
sweats. Doctor Wilson therefore expected to find a languid,
feeble pulse, but upon feeling was astonished at my having a
very full, strong, and rather quick pulse, and he said, " With
such a pulse as you now have I shall not object to your losing
a little blood, because it possibly may give you ease and I
am clear can do you no harm." I accordingly had half a
pint taken from my arm, and either actually was, or fancied
myself, better after it. I continued the practice occasionally
for about eighteen months, when being once under the
operation I suddenly fainted, and a considerable time
elapsed before I recovered, after which Dr. Wilson never
would bleed me again.

CHAPTER XXI

LORD CORNWALLIS AS GOVERNOR-GENERAL,
AND MORE OF BOB POTT

IN August of this year (1785) two gentlemen were added
to the society of Calcutta, who became great acquisitions
thereto. These were Doctor James Hare, a physician from
Scotland, a man of eminent skill and deep erudition, and
Robert Ledlie, Esq., a barrister-at-law, coming to practise
in the Supreme Court. I had long known him by sight as a
gay London man whom I frequently met in public places.
Upon comparing notes, I found we had as common acquaint-
ances many celebrated persons of both sexes, respecting
whom we afterwards often spoke, making mutual com-
munications of interesting anecdotes that had occurred.

At this period I was balloted for, and chosen a member
of, the Bachelors Club, so-called because when any one of
it married he was obliged or at least, it was customary to
send in his resignation. The members at the time of my
election were limited to twenty. From the nature of such a
society as that of Calcutta this club necessarily fluctuated
much in members, and the changes were frequent. It never-
theless subsisted for upwards of twenty years with the
highest eclat.

In the beginning of September, 1785, Earl Cornwallis
arrived in the Swallow packet, his lordship being appointed
Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief, the first and
only instance of those two elevated stations being united in
one and the same person. Lord Cornwallis brought out with
him as his staff, Colonel Ross (his private secretary), Captain
Madan and Captain Harry Haldane, his aides-de-camp, two
high-spirited and amiable men. Soon after their arrival
they both became members of the Bachelors Club, as like-

288

A MUSICAL PRODIGY 289

wise did Mr. David Ross, who arrived at the same time with
his lordship, being on board the Ravensworth. Mr. Ross
I also well knew as a dashing London buck.

On the Ravensworth came two Miss Philpotts, the eldest
of whom some time afterwards married Mr. Harington,
now Sir John, having succeeded to a baronetage, the other
about the same time became the wife of Mr. Calvert. Both
these ladies have been many years in England, their re-
spective husbands having acquired large fortunes in the
Company's service. In the same vessel came Charles
Fuller Martyn, Esq., a barrister, who called at my house
to tell me Mr. Carter was a shipmate, and as he had
often during the voyage mentioned his intimacy with my
family he (Martyn) thought I might be glad to hear of his
arrival. This young gentleman I had known at my father's
in the latter end of the year 1780. He was then quite a
boy, had recently arrived from Ireland, and was under the
immediate protection of the Earl of Inchiquin ; common
fame, indeed, made him his natural child, but his history,
shortly, was this : Lord Inchiquin knew his parents, who
were tenants of his. Having a numerous family, with very
slender means of providing for them, his lordship undertook
the education of one of the boys who happening to have
an uncommon fine voice he had him taught music, and
when yet a child he used to astonish the congregation
at an Irish cathedral by his extraordinary powers. Lord
Inchiquin brought the boy over to England with him,
where he was received most kindly by Mr. Burke's family,
my father's, and all of his lordship's friends. His vocal
powers were of so superior a kind that Lord Inchiquin
determined to send him to Italy in order to let him have
the advantage of the best possible instruction. After
astonishing the audience at the Opera House by singing a
single Italian song, and the same with Miss Linley at the
oratorios, he was sent off to Naples, with the strongest
letters of introduction to Sir William Hamilton, the British
Ambassador, and his lady, in the middle of the year 1781.
Upon his reaching Italy Lady Hamilton made him quite

III.— U

290 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

her pet, settled him in her family, and her delight was
making him from morning to night sing little plaintive
English ballads, at the head of which stood " Sally of our
Alley." But in this love of that style of singing the object
of his visit to Italy was lost in a great measure, dissipation
and an uninterrupted course of company necessarily inter-
fering with his musical studies.

Thus matters went on when one morning after passing
the greater part of the night singing to his elegant
and engaging hostess, and a numerous party of persons
of the first rank in Naples, assembled at her palace,
to his inexpressible surprize and mortification the boy found
he could not utter a single note. From that moment his
original voice was completely and for ever gone. The
period of his puberty had arrived and the above change
was the consequence. He, however, afterwards by habit
and superior genius acquired the talent of singing in a
feigned voice very sweetly. At the end of another year
he took leave of Italy and returned to England, soon after
which some person suggested to his patron, Lord Inchiquin,
the probability of his turning his acquirements to advantage
by visiting the East, and as he liked the plan himself he was
forthwith fitted out and dispatched to Bengal.

Upon thus hearing of his arrival from Mr. Martyn, I
immediately went in search of him, with a view of asking
him to my house, which I did in compliment to my much-
respected friends, Lord Inchiquin and the Burke family,
who I knew were his patrons and protectors. Upon going to
the tavern, I saw in the large hall, amongst many strangers,
an uncommonly vulgar -looking little body, whose face I
thought I had seen before. His dress was not more elegant
than his person. Enquiring if a young gentleman of the
name of Carter was in the house, this person came forward,
and with a terrible brogue declared his name to be Carter.
I then asked him if he recollected ever to have seen me
before in London previous to his going to Italy. He
answered he did not, being then " mighty small ! " but he
" belaived from my faytures I must be Mr. William Hickey."

LADY POPHAM'S SINGING 291

Having procured a palankeen and bearers, I took him home
with me, and from that hour he continued my guest during
his residence in Bengal. He soon informed me the object
of his coming to India was to teach music and singing, in
consequence of which I spoke to all the ladies of my ac-
quaintance in his behalf, and although I did not find any of
them disposed to put themselves under his tuition, one and
all declared their readiness to promote his success. Some
of the fair ones recommended his establishing a subscription
concert, which they would patronize. This scheme meeting
his approbation was adopted, and answered so completely
that he cleared upwards of fifteen hundred sicca rupees,
which set the little fellow quite agog and half mad with
joy at his wonderful success.

I introduced Carter at the Catch Club, the leading
members then being Messieurs Play dell, Golding, Haynes,
Salt, Messink, and Edmondstone, all of whom had fine
voices, with considerable taste, which was greatly increased
by the superior skill and judgment of Carter. These gentle-
men and many others occasionally made Carter handsome
presents, and as my little paddy was of the same disposition
as Mr. Harpur in the love of money his cash rapidly accumu-
lated, especially as he had no disbursements except for
clothes, in which he was far from extravagant !

Amongst those who benefited from Carter's instructions
none did so in so great a degree as Miss Prince, now Lady
Popham, being the wife of Sir Home. This lady possessed
uncommon powers of voice without knowing what to do
with it or how to avail herself of the advantage Nature had
blessed her with. Under Carter's management she became a
proficient, and had candour enough to admit how greatly
she had benefited by his advice and directions.

Mr. Calvert, who married the youngest Miss Philpott
and who, as I before stated, acquired a large fortune in
India, was a man of not very elegant manners nor person.
Shortly after the sisters arrived he made his proposal in
form, and the lady, without the least hesitation, gave him
a flat and positive refusal, but as diffidence or baehfulness

292 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

was not amongst his failings this rejection did not reduce
him to despair. He continued his assiduities and atten-
tions to her. Amongst various other stratagems to catch
her by an affectation of liberality and show, he purchased
a splendid English post-chaise for which he got four beauti-
ful horses, driven by two postillions in rich liveries. In this
equipage he made his appearance upon the race-course
where the belles of Calcutta usually took their station for
half an hour in the cool of the evening, there stopping to
give breath to their horses and to chat a little with their
male acquaintances.

Mr. Calvert upon seeing his enamorata drove close up
to the phaeton she was in. After the common salutations,
finding she took not the least notice of his dashing equipage,
he significantly asked her what she thought of his love trap.
" Elegant, upon my word," replied the lady, " quite
magnifique." " And what think you of the bait within it ? "
enquired he. "Do you mean to speak in French or English ? ' '
maliciously asked Miss Philpott. This severe witticism
quite confounded the poor lover and raised a general laugh
from all who heard it, at his expence. The prudent damsel,
however, within a month from that time accepted of Mr.
Calvert for a husband.

The supercession of Mr. Macpherson by Lord Cornwallis
reduced the former to the situation of a private gentleman
in the settlement he had been at the head of, Sir Robert
Sloper, the late Commander-in-Chief, being in a similar
predicament, and as it was not the season of ships sailing
for Europe they were under the disagreeable necessity of
remaining in Bengal during several months, the inhabitants
in general continuing to shew them every mark of respect
in their power.

Soon after Lord Cornwallis's arrival Mr. William Burke
invited his lordship and suite to dine with him at his gardens,
which was accepted. I had the honour to be of the party,
when I found our new Governor-General of most engaging
manners and great affability. After a very cheerful dinner,
a good deal of wine being drank by all present, Mr. Burke,

LORD CORNWALLIS AT WILLIAM BURKE'S 293

about eight o'clock in the evening had occasion to leave the
room for a few minutes, when Lord Cornwallis availed
himself of his host's absence to order his carriage, into which
he was just stepping to go to town when Mr. Burke re-
appeared, and endeavoured to prevent his progress, violently
opposing so early a breaking up. His lordship remonstrated,
begging and entreating to be allowed to go, declaring he
had already drank too much, indeed more than he had done
for years ; that having much business of importance to
transact the following day he must not run the risk of
incapacitating himself.

Mr. Burke, not choosing further to urge his lordship,
suffered him to seat himself in the coach, but upon Colonel
Ross's attempting to follow Mr. Burke seized him, saying,
" No ! no, Colonel, you stir not yet, I assure you. Although
Lord Cornwallis must be permitted to do as he pleases I
will not part with you," and he pulled him back. Lord
Cornwallis, anxious to get away himself, was glad to com-
pound by the detention of his secretary, calling out, " Aye,
aye, Burke, that's right, that's right. Keep Ross. I don't
want him, nor any one of the family. Keep them all,
Burke." And away he drove alone, without any troopers,
or even a single servant behind the carriage, nor did he
during his residence in Bengal, except on occasions of state,
ever suffer a soldier to follow him.

Colonel Ross being thus brought back to the party
continued at table drinking bumper toasts until one o'clock
in the morning, by which hour everyone present was
satisfied with the quantum of wine, the Colonel, with the
aides-de-camp, staggering off in high glee. I often heard
Colonel Ross declare that Burke's dinner was the only
time he ever committed a debauch in India, and Lord
Cornwallis also observed that even retiring as he did he
found he had taken quite sufficient claret, being, if not
actually tipsy, very little short of it.

The Swallow packet was now to be dispatched for Europe,
and to convey thither Lord Macartney. His lordship
accordingly embarked, having a short passage, but just

294 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

as they entered the British Channel encountered a severe
gale of wind, the weather being so extremely dark, and the
wind dead on shore that Captain Anderson became some-
what alarmed for the safety of the ship. Reckoning him-
self within a few miles of the Islands of Scilly, he was
poring over his chart, marking bearings and distance,
when the only sail out blew to shivers, rendering the situa-
tion still more critical. Lord Macartney chose that unlucky
moment to ask the Captain, " What port he expected to
make ? " " Hell, my lord ! " roughly replied the Com-
mander, " if the weather does not change within a very few
hours," which it fortunately did.

Lord Cornwallis entertained most hospitably, having
daily a party of from twenty to twenty-five. After his
escape, as he termed it, from Mr. Burke's he determined
never to dine from home, except at the Chief Justice's, or
places of equal ceremony, which etiquette made it necessary
he should do once a year. From my intimacy with the
members of his lordship's family I generally received an
invitation once a week. Dinner was served with a scru-
pulous exactness, the hour being four during the hot months,
and three in the cooler. He sat at table two hours, during
which the bottles were in constant circulation. If any one
of the company, from being in conversation with his neigh-
bour or other cause, inadvertently stopped their progress,
or what was quite as serious an offence, passed them without
putting in the corks, his lordship instantly attacked the
defaulter in the first instance, calling out sharply, " Pass

the wine, Mr. " and in the latter, " Fie, fie ! sir, how

can you omit to put the cork into the bottle before you
pass it ? "

Mr. John Lewis Auriol (my little ungrateful boy Nabob's
master) a foolish, weak, chattering blockhead, though sharp
and acute enough where his own interest was in any manner
concerned, had come to the Presidency from his station
up the country in order to be introduced to the new
Governor-General, after which ceremony he, of course,
had an invitation to dine at the Government House, re-

PASS THE BOTTLE AND PASS THE CORK 295

turning from whence to the house of Thomas Dashwood,
Esq., where he resided upon his occasional visits to Calcutta,
Mr. Dashwood being married to a sister of his, Mrs. Dash-
wood asked him how he liked Lord Cornwallis. To which
" Jacky," as he was by many contemptuously called,
answered, " Oh, vastly indeed. I never saw so well-bred
a man in my life. He was exceedingly polite and attentive,
and during dinner spoke to me at least thirty times." " Did
he ? " dryly asked Mr. Dashwood. " Then I dare con-
jecture that fifteen of those times were to pass the bottle,
and fifteen to pass the cork."

The Walpole Indiaman having arrived from Europe,
Mr. Richard Birch, whose sister was married to Captain
Churchill, the Commander, brought that gentleman to my
house to introduce him to me, observing that his brother-
in-law, besides being desirous of the pleasure of my ac-
quaintance, wished to consult me upon a matter of business,
the nature of which he stated as follows : Mr. Robert Pott,
seeing by the annual list that the Walpole was to be one of
the Bengal ships that season, had written to him (Captain
Churchill) in London strongly soliciting him to take out a
considerable quantity of plate therein particularly specified
and described, on his (Pott's) account. It was to be made
at Grey's in Bond Street, Churchill to pay for it upon
delivery and Pott to repay him the amount one month
after the Walpole's arrival in Bengal, with the addition
of fifty per cent thereon as a compensation for his trouble,
the interest of his money, and freight of the goods. Pott
was also to insure the same from London to Calcutta. To
these terms when proposed Captain Churchill acceded, and
actually fulfilled his part of the contract.

Upon Captain Churchill's arrival in the River Hooghley
he directly addressed a letter to Pott at Afzoulbang, en-
closing him one of the bills of lading, together with Grey's
bill and requesting his directions as to forwarding the
plate up to him, to which letter Pott answered that the
articles specified had been ordered by and were intended
for the Nabob, who, having changed his mind, did not now

296 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

want them ; that he (Captain Churchill) must therefore
look to His Highness for payment.

Captain Churchill, naturally displeased at such treatment,
replied that he knew nothing about the Nabob, nor ever
before heard his name mentioned or alluded to in the
transaction ; that he, Pott, had ordered the articles accord-
ing to his drawings or plans, from his own silversmith, had
made the agreement in his own name without the most
distant allusion or reference to the Nabob, and as he (Captain
Churchill) had bespoke the articles in obedience to such
desire of Pott's, at his (Pott's) workman's, had paid for the
same when delivered, and brought them out to India, he
could not consider it either handsome or fair treatment to
be now referred to the Nabob for payment, consequently
he should look to him (Pott) and to him alone for the
amount due.

Captain Churchill then told me that Pott persisted in his
refusal to pay. " I must therefore," he said, " request the
favour of you, Mr. Hickey, without loss of time to com-
mence an action on my behalf against this Mr. Pott." To
this I observed that I was so circumstanced with respect
to Pott, with whom I had lived in habits of the strictest
friendship since he was quite a boy, that it was totally
impossible for me to pursue any legal measures against him,
but that I should not only be glad, but consider it as a
favour done to myself, if he would previous to issuing any
process, wait the result of a friendly application from me
to Pott, who I felt scarce a doubt would readily follow my
advice. Captain Churchill very civilly and without the least
hesitation complied with my desire.

I therefore wrote to Pott, stating the facts as given to me
by Captain Churchill, and observed that if such statement
were correct he (Pott) had not the shadow of a pretence
for refusing to receive and pay for the plate. To my private
letter Pott answered in his usual style of absurd ribaldry,
overwhelming me with a rhapsody of nonsense he was fond
of indulging himself in at times ; he concluded thus, " And
now, my dear fellow, having nearly exhausted all my

POTT IS MADE TO PAY 297

spleen against this dirty slush bucket, this half -payed,
lousy tarpaulin of a skipper, this vendor of cheese, ham,
porter, and other filthy articles for lucre of gain, this com-
mon driver of a stage coach, this contemptible Maitre de
table D'hote, I candidly, fairly, most gravely and most
assuredly assure you, my much loved William Hickey, my
highly respected and respectable attorney, my very able,
learned and diligent solicitor, proctor, etc., that I will not
pay one single pucka pice. Therefore, without cavilling
defend, defend my cause, most sound and profound
lawyer."

After such stuff as this, and Pott's affecting to make a
joke of the business, I could do no more than inform Captain
Churchill I had been disappointed in my hope of prevailing
upon Pott to settle without litigation, and he must therefore
pursue whatever steps he thought right. Captain Churchill,
finding I would not act for him, went to another professional
man, who commenced an action, whereupon I again wrote
to Pott, entreating him to pay the demand without wildly
and unnecessarily increasing the evil by a heavy expence,
besides incurring the stigma of contesting against a fair
and just debt. This produced another strange and in-
coherent epistle from him, wherein he asserted that Churchill
was told the things for which he gave the order were for
the Nabob who was to pay for them ; that he (Pott) was
no more than an agent in the transaction, except that from
his having some acquaintance with Churchill he wished
to get him an advantageous and lucrative commission. He
at the same time admitted he had no proofs whatever to
support his case, but continued, " Pay I will not, my dearest
Bill, until old hemp and tar has the sanction of a judgment
of the superior big- wigs in his favour, which if he can let
him obtain, and much good may it do him." It is scarcely
necessary to add a judgment was obtained upon as clear a
case as ever came before a Court.

Vexed at my friend's obstinacy and folly, I communicated
the result in somewhat angry language, for which he only
laughed at me. Having enclosed a draught for the amount

298 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

of the judgment and costs upon his agents in Calcutta,
payable at sight, he once more indulged in his rhodomon-
tade, " And so, my friend William," said he, " you pretend
to be offended and petulantly ask what in God's name I
could mean or what could be my drift in resisting the
payment of as fair and just a debt as ever man owed. I'll
tell you then, William, what my drifts, for I had more than
one, were : imprimus, to vex a pompous, coxcomical, im-
pertinent hound of an East India Captain, the whole race
of whom I abhor and detest, and so ought you, Master
William, were it only for that abominable vagabond, Baker's
sake. . My next drift was to distribute a little of my super-
fluous cash amongst my acquaintances of the long robe,
and pray let me enquire if there were not here and there a
few such obstinate, wrong-headed fellows as your humble
servant, what would become of the honourable band of
attornies, advocates, special pleaders, and hangers-on in-
numerable of the law — how would the poor, miserable dogs
exist ? Hey, William, answer me that. As to my morality
or character being called in question, I say fudge, William,
errant fudge ! At any rate, should I lose my present
character, a fair chance would offer of finding a better."

CHAPTER XXII

SIR JOHN AND LADY DAY. CELEBRATING
YOUNG RICHARD BURKE's BIRTHDAY

EARLY in December I was surprized by a visit from Sir
John Day, who was profuse of civil speeches and profes-
sions of regard and attachment, which led me to conclude
there must be a motive ! and so it turned out. After telling
me he was about to leave India, having engaged a passage on
board the ship Resolution, which belonged to and was com-
manded by Captain Mercer, he went direct to his point, say-
ing, " You must, I presume, Mr. Hickey, have heard that
the Governor-General and Council some time ago presented
me with the sum of thirty thousand sicca rupees over and
above my salary, as a complimentary as well as substantial
return and acknowledgment of my indefatigable zeal and
attention, which they admit I have always shewn for the
interest and welfare of my honourable employers, the East
India Company. But those paltry shabroons of Leadenhall
Street — I allude to the Court of Directors — with that mean-
ness peculiar to them, have lately sent out orders to this
Government to call upon me forthwith to refund the said
thirty thousand sicca rupees, together with interest at the
rate of eight per cent per annum from the date on which I
received it, up to the day on which it should be repaid into
the Treasury. As this certainly is the most cruel, the most
unjust and illiberal measure that ever was adopted, I there-
fore intend to try my influence in person with those said
Directors, and trust my eloquence and powers of persuasion
will be sufficient to induce a revocation of their order, but
to effect this it may become requisite to prove to them the
eminent services I have done them as well as that I have

299

300 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

during my sojourn in Bengal given up my time wholly and
solely to their benefit, which the Governor -General and
Council were so sensible of they had voluntarily, without
application, presented me with the remuneration I have men-
tioned. I think it prudent likewise to be armed with proofs
that I rejected much private business and large fees that
were at different times offered to me by individuals,J)ecause
I would not have my attention in any manner diverted from
their particular affairs."

Sir John then pulled from his pocket and delivered to me
a written paper, to which he requested I would fix my
signature. Upon perusal I found it was a certificate,
couched in the most unqualified terms, stating that to my
knowledge he had repeatedly sacrificed large sums of money
offered to him in his capacity of a British barrister from his
determination not to let any private business draw off his
attention from the interests of the East India Company. I
observed to him that this paper went much farther than I
could think of sanctioning with my signature ; that true it
was I perfectly recollected having upon two occasions, and
no more, offered him fees with professional papers, which he
declined accepting, assigning as a reason that until his
dispute with the Chief Justice relative to his right to appear
and plead at the bar of the Supreme Court whenever he
pleased without taking any oaths was decided, he could not
go into Court upon any account. Notwithstanding this
remark from me he still pressed for my name to the paper,
observing no injury could ever arise to me or to anyone
thereby, whereas much advantage would accrue to him if I
consented, and that several other attorneys would follow
my example and sign, I persevered in refusing to certify
beyond what was within my immediate knowledge, viz.
that I had twice offered him fees as a lawyer which he
declined to accept. Finding all his eloquence fruitless, he
at last accepted the certificate in the terms I proposed.

The circumstance of these rejected fees were as follows :
Soon after my arrival in Calcutta, wishing to serve Sir John
Day as an old acquaintance, as well as being a person for

LADY DAY'S ORIGIN 301

whom I knew my father had a regard, I sent him a case of
very great importance, in which some nice questions of law
were involved, with a fee of fifty gold mohurs, and a further
one of an hundred gold mohurs, as a retainer in a cause
intended to be instituted on the equity side. This case
having remained with him a month my client, a native of
high rank, became anxious to have it answered in order that
he might commence his suit. I therefore applied several
times to the Advocate-General for his opinion, who at last
returned it unanswered, saying he could not bestow the
requisite time to it. But I firmly believe the true reason
was he did not feel himself competent. As he took no notice
of the retainer, I wrote to him again to ask whether he meant
to give his assistance in Court, as if not, I should be obliged
to give my client credit for the amount. To this he replied,
" His duty to the East India Company would make it im-
possible for him to attend to any cause in which they were
not either parties or in some way interested, he therefore
returned the retainer." But how did he do this ? By a
draught upon his agents at three months' sight, whereas I
had paid it to him in hard cash !

That Sir John was a man of talents and finished scholar
there was no doubt, equally certain it is he was no lawyer,
nor had he at any period of his life endeavoured to make
himself one by study or attention to the profession. He and
his lady were in some respects well matched, both being full
of vanity and pompous folly, both, too, being alike fond of
courting great people, and boasting of their intimacy with
their Majesties and the whole of the Royal family, as with
half the nobility of the realm ; yet her ladyship's origin was
not of the most elevated kind, she being a daughter of Mr.
Ramus, a favourite servant of the King's, and for many
years page of the back-stairs at St. James's Palace, her
paternal uncle being a respectable cheesemonger at Charing
Cross, and purveyor of that useful domestic to His Majesty,
as announced upon the sign of a Cheshire cheese placed over
the shop door.

But this odious and stinking trade of cheese selling was a

302 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

sad annoyance to the female Ramus, and especially to
Lady Day after she became dignified with the title of " lady-
ship." She was sadly ashamed if ever seen visiting at this
uncle's, but as he was known to be rich, and from having no
children of his own would probably leave his fortune to those
of his brother, self-interest made her so far sacrifice her feel-
ings as sometimes to honour him with a call. Her ladyship,
one morning, not very long before she was to embark for
India, ordered her smart coach to Charing Cross in order to
pay her respects to the wealthy uncle, taking care, however,
to go at so early an hour that it was unlikely any of her
fashionable acquaintances would be abroad. Upon reach-
ing the house she observed the street door open, a fortunate
circumstance as she thought. Calling to her footman to let
her out, she darted from the carriage with great alertness,
when oh ! shocking to relate, just as she had entered the
passage leading to the stairs, a vile female domestic who was
in the act of washing the same, presented her mop plump to
her ladyship's face in order to prevent further progress,
accompanying this hostile salutation with, " No, no, miss !
you don't pass this way, I assures you. If you must come
in, pray go round by the shop as you used to do." The
indignant lady had nothing for it but compliance ! What a
mortification to a silly woman !

In due time the arrogant couple embarked for Europe,
giving themselves such intolerable airs on board the Resolu-
tion as disgusted everybody except Captain Mercer, who
was greatly diverted at their ridiculous behaviour. Being
a man of considerable humour, he was constantly playing
some joke to render the knight's absurdity more palpable,
of which the following is a striking instance :

As the ship approached England nothing was talked 'of
by Sir John and Lady Day but their speedy meeting with
the King and Queen, how rejoiced their Excellent Majesties
and every branch of the Royal family would be to see them
once more, when no doubt some new honour, some special
mark of favour and attention would be conferred ! About
a week before making the land the Resolution in the middle

HOAXING SIR JOHN 303

of the night fell in with a small brig, only a few days from
Plymouth. Soon afterwards it fell calm, continuing so for
some hours. At daylight the captain of the brig hoisted out
his boat and went on board the Resolution. Captain Mercer
could not resist so fair an opportunity of putting a hoax
upon the learned Advocate-General. He therefore gave the
visitor his cue by making him acquainted with Sir John
Day's foible. As he happened to be fond of a joke, he at
once entered into the spirit of the thing and engaged com-
pletely to effect Captain Mercer's object.

The plan was immediately arranged between the two
Commanders. Sir John's apartment being half the round
house, he was early awakened by a bustle made on the poop
on purpose to rouse him. Ringing his bell to know what
occasioned so much more noise than usual, his servant told
him a strange vessel was close alongside and the captain of
her on board, whereupon, dressing himself as quickly as
possible, he went upon deck, with much stateliness making
his bow to the stranger, enquiring whence he came and
what news. The Captain having related some trivial circum-
stances, Sir John next asked as to Indian politics, and
whether Lord Cornwallis's dispatches had been long arrived.
The answer to this was, " His lordship's first dispatches
reached London three months ago, and about a week
before I left Plymouth, I heard a second packet had
arrived which had occasioned great alterations in India, for
his lordship having soon after he got to Bengal been attacked
with a dangerous illness, thought the climate would not
agree with his constitution ; he therefore resolved not to
stay long in it, and had sent home to request a successor
might without loss of time be sent out, in consequence of
which his desire had forthwith been complied with, and one
of the fastest sailing frigates in the navy left Plymouth the
day before my brig did, carrying the nomination of Governor-
General to a gentleman who has been some years in Bengal,
whose name I do not recollect but who filled a high situation
in the law, was a Sir, and now created a Peer." " Then,"
observed Sir John, " it must be either Sir Robert Chambers

304 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

or Sir William Jones." " No," replied the Captain, " I do
not think it was either of those names ; I rather think it was
Knight."

Captain Mercer who had joined the two gentlemen during
their conversation, now exclaimed, "I'll be hanged if I
don't believe you are yourself the man, Sir John Day, the
Captain here only mistaking your title for your name."
" Upon my word, sir, you are right — Day was the name I
perfectly well recollect, and, moreover, that he was called
something General." " Aye, to be sure," said Mercer,
" Advocate-General." " Yes, Advocate-General it certainly
was," answered the Captain. " God bless me," said Sir John,
" can it be possible ! Good God ! who could have imagined
such extraordinary honours would thus early have been
heaped upon me. It is scarcely to be believed it is too much ;
I could not expect such elevation," and away he darted into
his cabin, crying out to his wife, " Well, my dear, now you
are indeed a lady, nothing less than a peeress of the realm.
His Majesty, God bless him, has been graciously pleased in
his goodness to call me up to the House of Peers, and not
only so, but likewise in his bounty to confer upon me the
dignified situation of Governor-General of all the Indies.
It is wonderful ! I never could have thought myself deserv-
ing of such kind remembrance by their Gracious Majesties,
for I am sure that worthy Queen of ours has had her share
in obtaining these undeserved honours for us ! Well, my
dear Lady Day, this will make our immediate return to
Bengal indispensably necessary. I am bound as much by
duty as inclination to give my humble aid to promote the
British interests in India, and undoubtedly will do so during
my Government, the arduous task of performing which will
call for all my abilities as well as all my zeal. We shall barely
have time to throw ourselves gratefully at the feet of their
Majesties, there humbly offering our unfeigned thanks for
their unexampled kindness, and once more embark for Asia."
A breeze springing up about ten o'clock, the Captain of
the brig took leave, proceeding to his vessel to continue his
voyage, which was to North America, first touching at the

A MARTYR TO UNFOUNDED ANXIETY 305

Azores or Western Islands. After this nothing was talked
of by the proud knight and supposed new peer but the great
importance of the office he was destined to fill, though he
could not avoid lamenting that his necessary residence in
the East would, for some years at least, prevent exercising
his duty in the House of Lords.

Captain Mercer finding Sir John so elated, talking of
nothing but himself and the material changes for the better
he would make as Governor-General of India, began to hint
at the probability that all that had been related might be
premature, if not altogether fabricated, remarking that the
Captain of the brig had avowed himself an American, and
that all of that country were the most notorious liars in the
world, indeed there was no relying upon what one of them
ever said. To this Sir John replied it was utterly impossible
the man could be mistaken upon this occasion from the very
precise and particular manner in which he stated the facts.
" Well," said Captain Mercer, " we shall ascertain whether
it be true or not in four-and-twenty hours."

How the disappointed pair felt upon their arrival in
England and finding Sir John still remained a simple knight
and nothing more, nor that any change had taken place in
the Government of Bengal, may easily be conceived from
the characters I have already given of them. Sir John prob-
ably consoled himself in the idea of the many enjoyments
he should have from the ample fortune he had acquired in
the East. But if such thoughts did occupy his mind, he was
there equally disappointed. Shortly after his return home
he became hypochondriacal, that grievous malady increas-
ing so much as to amount nearly to insanity. At the end of
six years he actually fancied he should live to want a morsel
of bread, that all mankind were leagued together to plunder
and cheat him, and that every bank-note that came to his
hands, no matter from what quarter, was forged. Fully
possessed with this notion, he used to run about to his
banker and to every common friend he had to shew the note
or notes he had received and ask if they were not palpable
forgeries, nor had any assurances they gave to the contrary

III.— X

306 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

the least effect in changing his opinion. In this miserable
condition he continued a couple of years, then dying a
martyr to his unfounded anxiety and alarms. He left his
widow handsomely provided for, who survived him only
four years.

In December Sir John Macpherson (the Minister, as some
sort of recompense for superseding him in his Government,
having made him a baronet) and Sir Robert Sloper took
their passages for Europe.

It having always been the custom for the members of
Government and the principal persons of the settlement to
dine together at the Court-house on Christmas Bay, followed
by a ball and supper for the ladies at night, the same took
place on the 25th of December this year, although somewhat
against the inclination of Lord Cornwallis, who expressed
his disapprobation, as according to his idea the day ought
to be celebrated rather as purely religious than in feasting
and mirth. The dancing he particularly objected to, and
from that year no public dinner or entertainment of any
kind has ever been given on Christmas Day in Calcutta. At
this dinner Lord Cornwallis, as Governor-General, presided.

In the month of January, 1786, a very unpleasant part of
Lord Cornwallis's duty was promulgated and carried into
effect. This was an order he had brought out to commence
prosecutions against a number of the senior servants of the
Company who had either themselves been contractors, and
in the execution of such contracts had been guilty of gross
frauds, or had from the influence of their offices joined the
contractors in robbing and cheating the Company.

The granting of contracts of every description, with the
terms or conditions of them, had for several years rested
solely and entirely with the Board of Trade, which Board
consisted of a President and eleven other members, generally
consisting of the senior civil servants, as they rose to it by
their standing, though the term "rising" to it was ill-
adapted to the case, it frequently happening that men were
called from situations of immense emolument to take their
seats at the Board of Trade where the avowed allowance

THE KICK UPSTAIRS 307

was the comparatively pitiful sum of eleven hundred rupees
per month. It was, however, a well-known fact to every
man in India and to every director in Leadenhall Street
that the members of the Board of Trade made up the
deficiency or difference between this awkward kick upstairs
to a seat at the Board and the lucrative situations they had
been taken from by either themselves having a share or pro-
portion in each contract they granted, or else making the
contractor allow them a certain commission for the granting
such contracts, a circumstance so public that no member of
the Board ever considered it necessary to make a secret of it.
It was therefore pronounced unjust in the extreme thus
suddenly, unexpectedly, and without the smallest previous
intimation, to construe into a legal offence what had been
openly and avowedly the practice of the service at all times,
for was it to be supposed the Company's oldest servants
were to rise to posts that could not defray their current
domestic expences. Yet unjust as the measure indisput-
ably was the Directors accepted it, and Earl Cornwallis was
made the instrument of its being effected. The first step
was a proclamation issued by order of the Governor-General,
stating " the high displeasure the Court of Directors felt
upon discovering that various enormities, peculations, and
frauds had long been committed by their Board of Trade
upon them in Bengal in connivance with the contractors,
which iniquitous practice they were determined not only to
put a stop to and prevent the commission of in future, but
upon the delinquency being brought home to any individuals
to punish them with the utmost severity and inflict the full
penalty of the law, for which purposes they had directed
Lord Cornwallis to file Bills in Equity, or take such other
steps as the Law Officers might advise, against all those
persons standing in such predicament."

Lord Cornwallis had from the time of his arrival in Bengal
been, by means of secret agents, endeavouring to ascertain
the names of the parties and the special facts upon which
they were to be attacked, an employment deemed some-
what derogatory to the rank and character of his lordship.

308 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

It may, however, be fairly presumed that his lordship did
not so consider it, otherwise he would not have undertaken
the business. The gentlemen pitched upon to be prosecuted
were Mr. Aldrassey, who had been President of the Board
of Trade, but then resided in England, Mr. Davies, who
succeeded him, then also at home, Mr. William Barton,
President of the Board at the time of Lord Cornwallis's
arrival, Mr. Rider, Mr. Rooke, Mr. Bateman, and Mr.
Keighley, all at different periods Members of the Board, and
charged with being themselves the real contractors, although
the contracts were made in other and fictitious names, and
lastly, Mr. Thomas Fleuchman, who being himself a con-
tractor had joined with the Board of Trade in defrauding
his employers to a great amount. Against all these gentle-
men the Company's Attorney was instructed to proceed ;
Bills in Equity were accordingly prepared and filed against
each separately, praying an account and that the defendant
might be decreed to pay back with interest, all sums thus
dishonestly acquired from the complainants ; against Mr.
Barton, who was more deeply involved than the rest, there
were no less than four Bills, all of great length, being for so
many specific acts of tergiversation. Scarcely had these
Bills been put upon the file ere Lord Cornwallis by the
arrival of a packet received a new and peremptory order
from his Honourable Masters that the hour the prosecutions
should be commenced, he must dismiss the respective
defendants from the posts they held and suspend them from
service until the final issue of the Cause and the pleasure of
the Court of Directors should be made known ; thus render-
ing several of their oldest servants destitute, and in fact pre-
judging them, by punishing without a defence or a hearing.

I was congratulated by my friends as being in the direct
road to fortune by the increase of business these prosecu-
tions would give me. Of the unfortunate gentlemen at-
tacked, I was employed by Messrs. Barton, Rider, Bateman,
Keighley, and Fleuchman.

Mr. Barton at first talked boldly, and swore stoutly, but
soon finding that Government were armed with stronger

FRAUDS BY BOARD OP TRADE 309

evidence against him than he had expected they could have
found, and that if he abided an issue to the Causes there
must be Decrees against him to the amount altogether of
one hundred and fifty thousand pounds he, without saying
a syllable to me of his intention, suddenly decamped bag
and baggage to the Danish Settlement of Seranpore, from
whence, in a few months afterwards he proceeded to Europe
on board a Danish East Indiaman. He fixed his residence
in the City of Copenhagen, purchased the rank of nobility,
and after living a few miserable years in Denmark departed
this life.

Messrs. Bateman and Rider each candidly admitted the
facts charged by the Bills, to a limited extent, but urged
the notoriety of such practices and insisted that when
adopted they did not consider themselves as acting dis-
honourably or unfaithfully to their employers and that
even with the douceurs then allowed to the contractors
they had been material losers by rising to seats in the Board
of Trade. The Court of Directors admitted the force of this
argument and those two gentlemen being involved in a
trifling degree comparatively to Barton and others, they
were restored to their service without being compelled to
return the sums so improperly received.

Mr. Keighley gave determined opposition, fighting his
way inch by inch. After ably contesting the matter during
fifteen months in Calcutta, his health became so much im-
paired that the physicians recommended change of climate
as his only chance of recovery. He therefore applied to
Government requesting that they would allow the further
legal discussion of the question between him and the Com-
pany to be referred to the Court of Chancery in England,
which request was granted ; he soon after sailed for Europe
in the ship Rose, Captain Gray. I gave him letters of intro-
duction to my father and brother, who for some time acted
as his Solicitors, but difference of opinion arising in the
progress of the Cause, my father not approving of some steps
Mr. Keighley wanted to be taken and refusing to execute
them, he took his papers away and went to another Attorney.

310 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

After a most expensive litigation during several years, he in
a great measure succeeded against the Company, but being
obliged to pay his own costs as well as part of theirs it so
involved him that he ultimately was arrested by some of his
creditors and sent to the King's Bench prison where, I
rather believe, he ended a worthless life.

Mr. Fleuchman alone stood his ground in Bengal. He
answered the Bill most completely, justifying everything
he had done as a contractor. Upon this Answer coming in,
the Advocate-General moved to dismiss the Bill without
costs. The latter part Mr. Fleuchman resisted, but after
arguing the point a whole day the Court decided against
him and he was consequently obliged to pay his own costs.
He was then restored to the Service, but he immediately
sent in his resignation declaring that he would no longer
serve under such a set of illiberal men as the then Court of
Directors, who had by their shameful conduct rendered
themselves unworthy of the labours of any man possessing
the feelings or sentiments of a gentleman. It is almost
superfluous to add that previous to such resignation he
acquired a large fortune. Upon his return to England he
became an eloquent and popular speaker in the general
Courts of Proprietors, invariably attacking, and with
considerable success, the measures and conduct of the
Directors.

The above-mentioned Equity Suits were in a progressive
state during the period of sixteen months, proving so advan-
tageous to me that I was enabled to discharge nearly half
the amount of my debts ; the remainder continued a heavy
encumbrance from the high rate of interest, which was twelve
per cent. My domestic expences were also very great, some-
times exceeding 4000 rupees each month, and never less
than 3000. Exorbitant as this rate of living may appear,
I could not lessen it, keeping as I always did throughout
my residence in India the best company in the Settlement.

Mr. William Burke always celebrated his young friend
Mr. Richard Burke junior's birthday which was the 9th of
February. This gentleman was the only son of Mr. Edmund

YOUNG RICHARD BURKE'S BIRTHDAY 311

Burke. On the above day of the year 1786, we sat down to
a splendid dinner, consisting of turtle, venison, and every
rarity that was procurable. The party consisted of one
hundred and twenty persons, accommodated in a suite of
three rooms . Lord Cornwallis , who with the rest of the great
people was invited, pleaded indisposition, and sent an
excuse, but the whole of the staff attended ; it turned out
as usual a drunken business, attended with some unpleasant
disputes from the brutal violence of my old antagonist
Davison, though nothing serious arose from it. When the
company at a late hour was reduced to about a dozen, Mr.
William Dunkin attacked Mr. Burke for his total neglect of
a Colonel Wray, an Irish gentleman whose family had
all been particularly intimate with every branch of Mr.
Burke's, and who were near neighbours of Mr. Dunkin's in
the North of Ireland. This Colonel Wray was stationed at
the Presidency and left his card at Mr. Burke's house upon
his first arrival, but had never received an invitation to any
one of his parties.

In answer to Mr. Dunkin, Mr. Burke hiccupped out, " Oh,
damn the Irish beast, he and all his race are yahoos. I
never desire to have anything to say to him, or his damned
clan, besides I understand the fellow will blow out the brains
of any person the shape of whose face, or the size of whose
nose happens not to meet his approbation. Oh, no ! damn
the Irish spalpeen, I'll have nothing to do with him. He
shall not come into my house, by God." Mr. Dunkin de-
fended his absent friend, and although obliged to admit that
he had been unlucky enough to be involved in more than
one cause, zealously justified him in them all.

After a noisy, drunken discussion of the Colonel's merits
and demerits for more than an hour, the contest ended by
Mr. Burke's good-humouredly saying, " Well, after all,
perhaps I may have formed a wrong opinion of this Irish
Colonel, whom I really do not know, but you do, friend
Dunkin, and entertain so high a regard for him that you
may as well, in my name, invite him to dine here this day
fortnight, when the Governor of Chandernagore and some

312 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

other Frenchmen of fashion are to be here, and previous to
that day I will call at his house and leave my card."

Colonel Wray, accepting the invitation, was on the ap-
pointed day received by Mr. Burke with the most polite
attention, he lamenting that he had not earlier had the
honour of being made known to him. Mr. Burke happening
to have a severe cold complained a good deal, observing
" he was so ill as to be unfit to preside at the head of his
table."

There was present at this dinner Monsieur Le Comte de
Montigny, the Governor, and four other French officers
from Chandernagore ; Colonels Fullarton, Cockerell and
Pierce, with several civilians, forming altogether a party of
twenty-eight. The foreigners were, of course, placed on
each side of the host, Colonel Wray being nearly opposite
to him. Some time after the cloth was removed the topic
of conversation unluckily turned upon the relative situation
and clashing interests of the King's and Company's Officers
when upon service together. Several of the party (though
there were some of His Majesty's Army present) spoke upon
the subject, observing how unjust as well as unpolitic it was
to put quite boys of King's Officers over the heads of veterans
of the Company's, as frequently was the case upon the
detached commands ; amongst others, Colonel Wray with
much mildness and moderation gave his sentiments thereon.
This most unaccountably roused Mr. Burke, who with the
gestures and manners of a lunatic attacked the Colonel. In
a few seconds he had worked himself into a paroxysm of
rage, actually screeching out the following rhapsody, which
he accompanied with violently striking his clenched hand
upon the table, and rising from his chair upon his feet.
r God damn my blood if I ever heard such low, blackguard,
grovelling sentiments coming from the mouth of a person
calling himself a gentleman ! You, Mr. Major, Colonel,
What's-your-name — damn your name ! I never wish to
know your name nor have anything to do with a fellow
capable of making such dirty, illiberal comparisons," and
down he sat, a profound silence with looks of the utmost

SHOCKING BEHAVIOUR 313

astonishment pervading the whole party, which was not
lessened by Mr. Burke's again rising and with extreme agita-
tion addressing Colonel Wray, saying, " Sir, I beg your
pardon. Sir, I beg ten thousand pardons, Sir, of you and
of the company, every one of them, I have thus wantonly
offended. I have behaved shockingly, I am ashamed of
myself, I know not what possessed me ; forgive me, Sir,
I beg," and bursting into tears he dropped into his chair
apparently near fainting.

All eyes were turned to the Colonel, who it was feared by
those who had heard he was an irritable, quarrelsome man
would commit some act of violence upon receiving so extra-
ordinary a provocation, instead of which, with the utmost
command of temper and placid manner, he replied, " To
prove, Mr. Burke, that I feel not a particle of resentment,
I shall be glad to drink a glass of claret with you ; and as
you before dinner complained of a severe cold, of being
languid and beyond measure low-spirited, I sincerely hope
that this little exertion will have had a good effect and set
you quite to rights." This truly considerate and temperate
behaviour of Colonel Wray's deservedly gained him the
approbation of the party, as well as of all who heard it
spoken of. It fixed Mr. Burke as a zealous friend and
admirer. He ever after treated the Colonel with the most
marked attention and respect.

In March I was deprived of the professional assistance of
my esteemed friend Doctor James Wilson, he being ap-
pointed Surgeon to the Presidency of Radshy, and therefore
obliged to depart for that station. In point of talent, how-
ever, his loss was not so materially felt, from there still
remaining at the Presidency two very able men, Doctor
Charles Allen and Doctor James Hare, both of whom
occasionally attended me.

Having during my residence amongst the French at
Trincomalay found how highly they respected the fraternity
of Freemasons, and the advantage it would have been to
me had I at that time been of the Order, I determined to
become a " Brother " at the earliest opportunity. Upon

314 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

my arrival at Bengal Masonry happened to be much in
fashion, there being several Lodges that met, the one dis-
tinguished by the title of " Number Two " being considered
the most select. At this therefore I was proposed, and after
the usual examination and ceremony of " making," as it is
termed, the mummery and absurdity of which by the way
greatly offended me, I became a member. In a regular way
I rose to the degree of Master, soon after which I filled the
high office of Senior Warden.

CHAPTER XXIII

A RIVER EXCURSION. THE FRATERNITY OF BUCKS.
A DREADFUL HURRICANE

remainder of the year passed without any material
JL happening. I at times had attacks of spasms ; probably
increased if not actually brought on by living too free. As
I had been strongly recommended to use the exercise of
riding, I purchased two capital saddle-horses, one of them
having been a famous racer that had won several plates and
matches. He was called Momus, the property of a Mr.
Richardson, a keen sportsman, from whom I purchased him,
and who felt rejoiced at getting a kind master for an old
favourite. For about six months I rode generally about
twice a week ; at the end of that time I grew tired from the
very early hour at which it was necessary to ride, and I gave
it up though I continued to keep my horses. My little Irish
guest, Carter, was prodigiously fond of riding : he never
missed a morning and was particularly pleased with Momus,
always speaking of him as the pleasantest horse he ever
mounted.

Towards the end of the year my shipmate, Mr. Humphry
Howorth, who had acquired a large and rapid fortune of at
least forty thousand pounds, from getting a slice of the
opium contract, determined to return and enjoy it in Eng-
land. Soon after he reached home he purchased my father's
house in St. Albans Street, became a regular frequenter of
Newmarket, and kept racers.

At this period, I lost a steady friend in Mr. Harry Van-
sittart, who was carried off very suddenly, as is too often
the case in the burning climate of Asia. Having heard he
was indisposed, I stopped at his door on my way to Mr.

315

316 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

William Dunkin's, where I was going to dine about one
o'clock in the afternoon, and was told he was extremely ill.
Between five and six, the same day, being on my return
home, I again stopped at the invalid's house, where I was
greatly shocked at being informed that he was dead and
the corpse gone about half an hour to be buried. This
is quick work and appears horrid to persons recently
from Europe, yet it is often indispensably necessary from
the body's becoming putrid nearly as soon as the breath
leaves it.

Just after the remorseless tyrant Death had thus deprived
the world of one of its brightest ornaments, which Mr. Van-
sittart certainly was, Mr. William Dunkin was attacked by
a violent and dangerous fever, in which the doctors Fleming
and Allen had for several days scarce a hope of saving him.
The indefatigable -kindness and attention, however, of
Doctor Allen, who never left the house day or night, fortu-
nately preserved him to us, but the disease left him so reduced
and languid it was deemed necessary to change the air, in
consequence whereof he expressed an earnest desire that I
would accompany him upon an excursion up the river for a
month or six weeks. Being particularly desirous to oblige
one who had been unremitting in his acts of kindness to me,
I agreed to make one of the party.

On the 1st of February the requisite boats being pre-
pared, Mr. Dunkin, Doctor Allen, Mr. James Dunkin, Mr.
Stephen Casson, and myself embarked at Calcutta, Mr.
Casson undertaking the management of the provisions and
everything respecting the table. As I was better acquainted
with the disposition of the natives than he was, I advised
that the pinnace on board which Mr. Dunkin was and in
which wre were to mees, should not stir from the Ghaut until
the Bobbachee Khemsah, or cooking-boat, as well as the
Consumah and servants' boats with the live-stock preceded
us, for if they were not well looked to we might be left in the
lurch for our dinner. Mr. Casson, not liking my interference,
coldly observed I need be under no alarm he having taken
the precaution to put a hircarrah into each boat, to see

A RIVER EXCURSION 317

that his orders were strictly adhered to. Notwithstanding
Mr. Casson's confidence, I still suggested the propriety of
at least seeing the boats ready to start before we moved,
which Mr. Dunkin likewise wished, observing that as his
appetite was just returning he should not like to be dis-
appointed of his dinner. Mr. Casson repeating his assur-
ances that there was no danger of that kind, my opinion
was overruled.

At ten in the morning the different pinnaces left Chaund-
paul Ghaut with a fine southerly breeze at a strong spring-
tide, carrying us at the rate of full nine miles an hour. By
half-past eleven we were off Seranpore, when Mr. Dunkin
expressed a wish to have something to eat, but not a morsel
was to be secured, everything being in the small boats of
which there was not the least appearance. I therefore pro-
posed stopping at Seranpore, either to procure victuals or
wait the coming up of the said boats. Again I was over-
ruled and petulantly begged not to be so impatient. On we
stood, passing Chandernagore Chinsurah, Hooghly and
Baudel, above which latter place there is no town near the
river for many miles.

Our hour for dining had been fixed for two o'clock ; it
was now past three, yet no appearance of the boats. Mr.
Dunkin complained much of hunger and began to upbraid
Mr. Casson for so obstinately and pertinaciously adhering
to his own opinion instead of following the prudent advice
I had given. Finding fault, however, or grumbling would
fill no empty stomach. At five Doctor Allen observed to
Mr. Dunkin that if he could eat curry he thought he might
procure some from a small budgerow that was in company,
on board of which were two children (the Doctor's daughters)
with their mother. Mr. Dunkin instantly answered he
would give the world for anything in the way of food.
Heaving to, therefore, the Doctor took our attendant rowing-
boat and went to his family's budgerow, from whence he in
a few minutes returned with an excellent curry, plenty of
well-boiled rice and a loaf of bread, upon which we fell to
and soon devoured the whole. Between five and six o'clock

318 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

it becoming dusk we brought to for the night, a little above
Sooksangor.

At nine at night the servants joined us, each laying the
blame upon the other. One had forgot his hubble-bubble,
another his tobacco. Then Mr. Dunkin's barber detained
them till he got his master's razors sharpened. At length
when the servants were assembled they found the mangee
of the cooking-boat absent and had to wait his coming.
In short, from a variety of frivolous wants, as is always the
case with Bengallees when leaving the place of their usual
residence, they did not start for full three hours after us.
Upon this specimen of Mr. Casson's management and
arrangement, on the outset, the party — especially Mr.
Dunkin — were disposed to put him out of commission ;
whereupon I tendered my services, which were accepted
conditionally, that is, that I must at least for two hours
every morning play picquet with Mr. Dunkin, during which
time if anything was wanted Doctor Allen agreed to officiate
as maitre d'hotel in my stead. From thence forward we had
an abundant and well-furnished table.

As we proceeded upward we found great impediments
from the freshets in the river, which in some parts ran with
such force we could not get on for hours together. At one
bluff point in particular, just within the entrance of the
Cossimbuzar River, the wind having died away nearly to a
calm, the Dandies could not with every exertion move the
pinnace, which was of the largest size, a single inch ahead.
After toiling in vain for three hours the whole fleet were
obliged to bring to, when the Dandies of them all came to
assist us, and by their united exertions dragged us to a
stream that ran like a sluice. But in effecting this, we lost
an entire day, in fact we had begun to despair of ever getting
round this tremendous point.

On the seventh day after leaving Calcutta, late in the
evening, we reached Massey House, under the bank of which
we secured our boats and had just ordered tea and coffee
when Mr. James Forbes, an Attorney of the Supreme Court,
entered the cabin, bringing with him some prodigious fine

THE WORSE FOR WEAR 319

wild hog and a quantity of different sorts of game which his
people had killed during the morning. Mr. Forbes had been
cruising about the river a month in the hope of recovering
his health, after being dangerously ill with the liver. He
had his wife with him. This lady had recently arrived from
Scotland, the place of her nativity, in consequence of Mr.
Forbes requesting she would do so, when he left Edinburgh
fifteen years before. He was attached to her, and so long a
residence in India not abating the fervour of his love, he
wrote to invite her : but alas, upon beholding her, oh what
a falling off was there ! She, whom he had left a blooming
stout lass, had become a wrinkled, wretched-looking old
woman, so dreadfully altered as to create disgust instead of
creating desire. Yet such as she was, he considered him-
self bound in honour to fulfil his engagement to her and
therefore married her. Upon first seeing her he disclaimed
all knowledge of her, gravely insisting he had never before
set eyes on her ; but she soon found means to identify her-
self, which having been done beyond all doubts she, in her
broad Scotch dialect, observed that " verily her gude mon,
her dear Jammy, was somewhat the worse for wear as well
as hersel."

On the 9th we arrived off Afzoulbang, where I was in
the act of writing a note to my friend Robert Pott, when
the very man himself came alongside our pinnace in a
magnificent boat of his own building, attended by a swarry
of at least fifty persons. Our approach had been announced
to them the previous evening by some of the Nabob's
native officers stationed at Cossimbuzar. Pott insisted upon
our immediate landing and taking up our abode in his house,
which we did, being received and entertained during the ten
days that we stayed with the utmost hospitality and in his
usual splendid style. Two of the days of our sojourn we
dined with Mr. James English Keighley, the gentleman
whom I have already mentioned, and by anticipation given
some account of. He was Commercial Chief of the Factory,
besides which he carried on extensive business in raw silk
whereby he acquired an immense fortune. He lived with a

320 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

degree of pomp and extravagance little short of Pott. We
also had one very cheerful day at Mr. Edward Fenwick's
(of fete-champetre fame), another with the Nabob, and the
following one with the Commanding Officer of His High-
ness's bodyguard, the Hon. David Anstruther, who resided
about two miles from Afzoulbang. This gentleman, although
accomplished in many respects, was very vulgar and brutal
in his behaviour to women, especially to those of his own
family. He married in Bengal a Miss Donaldson, daughter
of a needy tradesman in a country village of Scotland who,
upon finding one of his girls well disposed of in India, sent
off to the same destination two more who had arrived at
their sister's, Mrs. Anstruther, only a few days previous to
our visit. The youngest of these girls, Miss Moggy, became
the ill-treated wife of the wild and profligate Mr. Holt ;
in point of fact, she was one of the loveliest creatures I
ever beheld.

Messrs. Dunkin and Casson, as well as myself, being
desirous of reaching Calcutta by the opening of the Term,
which was to commence on the 1st of March, Mr. Dunkin's
health and strength being perfectly re-established, on the
19th we took leave of our Afzoulbang host, and embarked,
our fleet gently gliding down the stream to Cossimbuzar,
where the party had promised to spend a couple of days
with Mr. Keighley, who received and entertained us most
hospitably : on the 21st we proceeded towards the Presi-
dency. The Cossimbuzar River in particular spots being
very low we experienced considerable difficulty in getting
over the shoals, sometimes sticking fast when all the people
were obliged to jump overboard and force the boats off.
On the 23rd, we once more got into the Hooghly, and
arrived at Calcutta on the 27th, having passed a very
pleasant month.

At the end of March my drunken friend, Colonel Cooper,
embarked for England, from whence he had received letters
informing him that his creditors had signed a letter of
licence allowing him three years for payment of their
respective demands, but upon his arrival in London he had

WINNINGS AT HAZARD 321

the mortification to find that two of those tradesmen, to
whom he was largely indebted, had refused to execute,
declaring that if he made his appearance they would arrest
him and consign him to a prison, to avoid which he forth-
with crossed the British Channel, taking up his abode at
Boulogne, where a few years after he breathed his last.

In May I received a visit from my friend, Mr. Stackhouse
Tolfrey, who called to announce his approaching marriage
with Miss Messink, one of the most beautiful young women
of Bengal, and to invite me to the wedding, which I attended
accordingly, having the satisfaction to see a worthy man
made completely happy.

In the same month, being summoned to a party at Mr.
William Burke's garden house, where I met Mr. Benjamin
Mee, Major Macdonal, and several other sporting men, in
the evening hazard was proposed. Mr. Burke well knowing
that I never played, whispered me to request I would that
night sit down and play for him, for he had a presentiment
I should prove successful. I therefore took my seat, and
at the end of three hours rose a winner of upwards of three
hundred gold mohurs. This was the only time in my life I
ever made one at a hazard table.

Having several friends to dine with me, the conversation
happened to turn upon the subject of the fraternity of Bucks,
when some of the company expressed a wish that a Lodge
might be established in Calcutta, and I was requested to
ascertain whether there were a sufficient number of that
Society to form a Lodge.

About this period Mr. John Scawen, who went to Europe
in the same ship as Colonels Watson, Mestayer, Metcalfe,
and others, returned to Bengal, having succeeded in the
object of his voyage by getting the Court of Directors to
appoint him Military Auditor-General, an Office he would
have undoubtedly enjoyed but for his own folly, for instead
of making the best of his way to India, he trifled away his
time in Paris, and in running over the Continent, during
which the Government of Bengal put Colonel John Murray,
now Sir John Murray McGregor, Bart., into the situation,

III.— Y

322 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

and were so pleased at the correct manner in which he
performed the duties of the office that when Mr. Scawen
did at last arrive they peremptorily refused to displace
the Colonel, nor could all the memorials and protests of
Mr. Scawen induce the Governor -General and Council to
alter their resolution : he was therefore obliged to submit
to act in the capacity of deputy, with a comparatively
trifling salary of one thousand sicca rupees per month.

The result of my enquiries respecting the Bucks was that
there were besides myself five other gentlemen residing in
Calcutta who were members of that Society. Their names
were Francis Rundell, Phinehas Hall, Arthur Mair, Robert
Haldane, and William Golding, and as four were fully com-
petent to form a Lodge it was immediately determined to
set it on foot, and as a great number of gentlemen had en-
treated to be admitted a meeting was summoned at my
house of the original members, for the purpose of framing
rules and establishing all requisite preliminaries.

I have already mentioned the circumstance of a quantity
of plate having been brought by Captain Churchill for Pott,
and the lawsuit consequent thereto, which plate, by the
decision of the Court, Pott was obliged to receive and pay
for. As it consisted of articles for which he had no occasion,
he resolved to dispose of the whole by a raffie, making four
prizes. The number required being soon obtained the sub-
scribers threw. I was fortunate enough to gain the second
prize, which consisted of a splendid epergne, with the usual
accompaniment of hanging saucers, etc., for the centre of
the table. The charge made by Grey for this article was
two hundred pounds.

On the 2nd of November this year (1787) a most
tremendous hurricane occurred. The weather at that period
is generally settled and serene in Bengal, the north-east
monsoon being then considered as completely set in towards
the northern extremity of the Bay, though by no means so
to the southward ; this year, however, it had been rainy
and bad for some days. Having a business of importance
coming on that morning in Court, I rose earlier than usual.

A SCENE OF HAVOC 323

At seven o'clock I went in to my office when the rain was
descending in torrents with a strong wind from the east-
ward, which by nine had greatly increased, and before ten
it blew what my Plassey shipmate, Doctor Court, would
have denominated " a mere fright." The house I then in-
habited being very old shook so violently that I really
expected it to come tumbling about my ears. My guest,
little Carter, was quite alarmed, and at each gust exclaimed
with his accustomed brogue, " Auch, my dear Sir, surely
then we will all be buried in the ruins of the building !
Auch, how it shivers and shakes ! "

In the height of the tempest I was obliged to go to the
Court which, with the utmost difficulty, I reached, the
bearers supporting the palankeen on each side ; so severe
were the gusts that I was upwards of half an hour getting a
hundred yards. From the Court I beheld one general scene
of distress and havoc, especially amongst the small craft on
the river. Even the largest ships were put into violent
motion, pitching as if in an open ocean. Had I not been an
eye-witness, I should not have believed any power of wind
could have so agitated such a comparatively small body of
water as the Hooghly at Calcutta. The Britannia, a fine
vessel of four hundred tons burthen, then laying at anchor
off the town, was obliged to cut away her masts to prevent
her over -setting, which from her being nearly empty she
certainly would have done. The Comet packet that had
arrived from Bombay only the preceding day, was in im-
minent danger of foundering, being nearly full of water.
The wind roared in so unusual and extraordinary a manner
as to render it utterly impossible to see to business, the
judges not being able to hear a word. There we all remained,
therefore, most anxiously looking out of the window to-
wards the river, expecting every instant to see the Comet go
to the bottom.

The hurricane continued with unabated fury until noon
when it suddenly, in a moment as it were, fell absolutely
calm, leaving the most awful appearance in the sky I ever
beheld ; the rain ceased with the wind, but the whole atmo-

324 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

sphere was more depressed and heavier than I ever felt it :
the clouds all round became of the deepest and dismal
copper colour. During this calm some of us went to the top
of the Court-house to view the devastation both on the river
and shore ; the latter, as far as the eye could reach, was
covered with the wreck of boats and small vessels ; eight
large ships had broke from their moorings and were laying
in various positions upon a sand-bank and upon the shore
opposite Calcutta. Whilst contemplating the scene of
desolation, I observed the line of the sky towards the south-
west rapidly changing from copper to a still darker purple,
the clouds rolling about with uncommon velocity, and evi-
dently rising fast, whereupon I remarked to my companions
that we were certainly going to have a repetition of the
storm from a directly opposite quarter. We therefore
descended, and had scarcely reached the Court-room when
the tempest recommenced from the south-west with such a
tremendous crash as made us think everything must yield
to its force. There was no rain, yet a darkness prevailed so
as to appear like night ; the wind roared as loud as thunder,
the scene altogether forcibly bringing to my mind the mon-
soon hurricane I had encountered with my ever-lamented
Charlotte five years before. The second blast continued for
four hours when it decreased to a strong gale and heavy rain
then fell, attended by severe thunder and lightning.

I had invited a large party to dine with me that day, only
three of them, however, ventured to leave their houses.
Upon returning home from Court, I found Carter in a great
fright, and he told me that in the whole course of his life he
never had passed so dismal a day, every moment expecting
to be demolished by the downfall of the mansion.

On the 3rd the sun rose in all its majestic splendour
without a single speck of cloud in the heavens, and a more
beautiful morning was never seen, but the dreadful devasta-
tion that met the eye in every direction "was truly lament-
able. Women and children were wailing the loss of husbands
or fathers, and parents that of their young ones ; the variety
of distressing objects that presented themselves in all direc-

NOBLE GRAND OF THE BUCKS 325

tions is not to be conceived ; the surface of the water was
covered by floating wrecks, while the land was strewed with
the ruins of fallen houses and trees ; of the latter some of
an immense size were torn up by the roots, laying across the
most public roads and streets. An avenue of fine full-grown
timber -trees, consisting of at least a hundred, which led
from the outer gate up to the house door of Mr. Hardwicke
at Barrypore, about fourteen miles from Calcutta, were,
with the exception (I think) of six, every one blown down
by the first gale from the north-east and lay upon the
ground in the direction the wind blew from until the change
to the south-west, when many of them were actually forced
round to a different position. Incredible as this appears,
it is an undoubted fact, ascertained by the whole of Mr.
Hardwicke's family and by many of his friends.

The 10th of November being the day previously fixed
upon the five original Bucks met at my house, when Mr.
Mair and Lieutenant Golding, who had every particular as
to the form to be observed in constituting a Lodge within
their recollection, as also the ceremony of making or
admitting a new member, committed to writing every cir-
cumstance, which being read and approved were adopted.
Mr. Mair likewise undertook to bespeak and superintend
the making of the different jewels and regalia worn by the
Officers ; at the express desire of the party present I
consented to be at the head and was immediately nominated
" Noble Grand,'' my supporters being Messrs. Kundell and
Hall. Mr. Mair accepted the troublesome office of Secretary.
Among our rules and regulations it was determined to limit
the number of members to twenty-five, as being likely to
render the Lodge select and respectable as well as to make
it the object of pleasant men to become members. Upon
comparing the lists of friends each of us had who were
desirous of belonging to the Society, we found considerably
more candidates than were required to fill the Lodge ; the
gentlemen, I as Noble Grand proposed, were George Elliot,
Michael George Prendergast, John Addison, Stephen
Bayard, John Wilson and John Melville,

326 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

Mr. Stackhouse Tolfrey having acquired an independent
fortune took a passage for himself and his handsome wife
on board one of the Company's ships, and early in the month
of December they sailed for England. I availed myself of
that opportunity to send as a present to Mrs. Burke the
handsome epergne of Pott's which I won in the raffle.

Captain Gerard, of the Company's ship Deptford, who
was then in Bengal, having been educated at Westminster,
took the opportunity of giving an entertainment to all of
the School then resident in Calcutta. Upon our assembling
at his house, I greatly admired four landscapes that were
hanging in his dining-room. Captain Gerard told us they
were the property of a very worthy young man, the second
mate of his ship, who being a friend of Mr. Farrington, the
painter,1 employed him to paint them in the hope of their
turning to account in India, but instead of his expectation
being realised no person had hitherto offered half of what
they cost him, which was £200, and he greatly feared his
young friend would be a material sufferer upon the occasion.
Upon this representation one of the company immediately
proposed adding one hundred per cent to the cost price, and
at that amount raffling them. This suggestion was forth-
with adopted, the list being filled by the party present, dice
were produced and we proceeded to determine who was to
possess the pictures. The gentlemen having all thrown
except me and Captain Gerard, who held two chances, I
took the box and threw fifty, being the highest number.
Captain Gerard threw only thirty-six, but on his second
chance also threw fifty ; we were left therefore to determine
the tie. I again took the box and threw the uncommonly
low number of eighteen, concluding Captain Gerard must
be the successful person, when to the surprize of us all he
threw but seventeen, his first being three aces and his second
deuces, the third a six and a deuce. Thus the pictures
became my property for three hundred rupees, the sum paid
for each chance, this prize, with the silver epergne, being

1 Probably Joseph Farington, B.A., as his brother George was in
India at this time. — ED,

THE LOVELY JEMDANNEE 327

the only instances of good fortune I have ever met with,
either in lottery or in raffle, during my long residence in
India, although in that period I had tried my luck in many
score, both of the one and the other.

Mrs. Cairnes being now attacked with a severe fever, was
so much debilitated and reduced by it that Major Cairnes
resolved to make her change the air. They therefore em-
barked for the Upper Provinces, and I saw no more of them for
a considerable time. My guest too, Mr. Carter, had frequent
slight attacks of liver, which convinced me that the heat of
India would not allow of his remaining long in it. As he found
that every week seriously affected him he prudently deter-
mined to content himself with a small independency he had
acquired of nearly four thousand pounds, and returned to
England. I had the further satisfaction of securing for him
a passage, free of every expence, on board the Lord Camden,
commanded by my excellent friend Captain Nathaniel Dance.

I had often admired a lovely Hindostanee girl who some-
times visited Carter at my house, who was very lively and
clever. Upon Carter's leaving Bengal I invited her to
become an inmate with me, which she consented to do, and
from that time to the day of her death Jemdannee, which
was her name, lived with me, respected and admired by all
my friends by her extraordinary sprightliness and good-
humour. Unlike the women in general in Asia she never
secluded herself from the sight of strangers ; on the con-
trary, she delighted in joining my male parties, cordially
joining in the mirth which prevailed, though she never
touched wine or spirits of any kind.

About this period two artists of splendid talents, the
Messrs. Daniell, uncle and nephew, arrived in Bengal ; and
as I was always as great an encourager of merits as my
humble means would allow, I not only subscribed myself
but procured many other names to a work they commenced
upon of drawing and engraving in aqua tinta, twelve views
of different parts of Calcutta ; they completed them within
a twelvemonth, but being the first attempt they proved
very inferior to many subsequent performances.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE DOWNFALL OF ROBERT POTT. DAVISON'S DUELS
WITH WILLIAM BURKE AND PRENDERGAST

IN February, 1788, 1 had the pleasure of recBiving letters
from my family, which were brought out by John Royds,
Esquire, an intimate friend of my father's and eldest sister's ;
he was a gentleman of accomplished and elegant manners
who had spent his time in the best company in England ;
formerly he possessed a handsome estate in Yorkshire, but
by living rather too profusely had injured it so much as to
make it necessary for him to leave England, and like many
others in similar situations, try what Asia would do for him.
Having when a young man, though without any thought
at the time of ever following the profession of the Law, been
called to the Bar, he now came out to Bengal with the inten-
tion of becoming an Advocate in the Supreme Court. As
he had always been a gay man of pleasure, he had not
bestowed much of his time in studying Coke, Salkeld, or
Ventries, consequently could not be a profound lawyer, but
to society in general he was a great acquisition : he con-
stantly made one of my parties, as well as those of Mr.
William Dunkin, who shewed him the utmost attention.

In March, I received a kind and grateful letter from Mr.
Carter, from Bombay, the Camden having been sent to
that place to convey a cargo of cotton from thence to
China, where she was to be filled with tea for London.
Indeed, it was owing to this circuitous route of the ship that
I was able to get him a passage gratis, for had she gone home
direct from Bengal, I neither could have asked or expected
such a favour as she would have been crowded with pas-
sengers. By Carter's letter, I learnt what I had before had

328

A RUINOUS DISPUTE 329

some suspicion of — his being seriously in love with Misa
Prince, now the wife of Sir Homo Popham. He not only
avowed the attachment, but acknowledged that he had
proposed and been positively refused, which disappointment
he said operated more to prejudice his health than the
climate, and that not being able to endure the sight of her
he so much loved, notwithstanding her proud rejection, had
induced him to take my advice and leave India. In the
course of a long voyage little Paddy's love cooled, and by
the time he reached England he had so far gotten the better
of it that he soon after his arrival married a Miss Wills, a
smart and rather good-looking girl, who in due time bore
him a son, who has grown up the exact counterpart of his
father. The following year produced a daughter, after
which she had no more children, and in about eight years
after his return he died from a severe attack of liver.

In the same month of March Mr. John Shee, now a
baronet, left India. About the same period my friend Pott
had a violent quarrel with his head assistant, Mr. John
Addison, who, from having been in the same situation with
Sir John D'Oyly, was extremely jealous and offended at
Pott's superseding him by stepping into the posts of Presi-
dent at the Durbar and Collector of the Customs. He, in
fact, became a most inveterate enemy of Pott's, suffering his
personal dislike to carry him so far as to accuse his principal
of various frauds and peculations. Pott recriminated, and
so rancorous were both parties that at length the attention
of Government was drawn to their dispute, in consequence
of which an enquiry into the conduct of Mr. Pott was
directed ; in the discussion thereof, Pott and Addison were
so eager to ruin each other that a number of facts were
established against both, whereupon they were removed
from their situations, too fatally effecting their object of
ruining each other. From that time to the day of his. death
Pott remained out of employment ; nor did his antagonist,
Addison, get any situation until sixteen years after.

My friend, Mr. William Dunkin, now began to talk of
returning to England for the purpose of trying to obtain a

330 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

seat upon the Bench, a report then prevailing that an im-
peachment had been voted in Parliament against Sir Elijah
Impey, which would of course do away his Chief Justiceship.

In April Mrs. Rider, the wife of my friend and Plassey
shipmate, Jacob Rider, with her daughter, a smart showy
girl of about seventeen, arrived from Europe in a French
ship. Having resided the last four years in Paris, they
brought out the latest fashions, setting all the women wild
to procure the same sort of cap or hat as worn by them. In
consequence of this increase of family, Mr. Rider was obliged
to take a large house in Calcutta and greatly add to his
establishment of servants.

Mr. Keighley upon the suit in equity being commenced
against him was deprived of his situation at Cossimbuzar.
He therefore, after leaving an agent at that place to carry
on the business of his filatures or silk manufactories, took
his family to reside at a capital mansion belonging to him at
Russassugly, five miles to the southward of Calcutta. Mrs.
Keighley was one of the prettiest as well as the cleverest
women in India, for both which reasons she was envied and
detested by her own sex, most of whom were illiberal enough
to propagate ill-founded scandal respecting her moral
conduct. This she herself treated with the most sovereign
contempt, but being a great favourite of mine, I always
defended her character when I heard it attacked by any of
my female acquaintances.

I generally passed Saturday and Sunday at this place
Russassugly, but having a particular dislike of sleeping out
of my own bed, I returned to town after supper on Saturday
night, driving out again early the next morning to break-
fast. Mr. Keighley drank very hard and with such an
example as he constantly set it was difficult to avoid com-
mitting excess. One of the greatest debauches I ever wit-
nessed occurred at his house with about a dozen sad fellows.
In the midst of our Bacchanalian rioting one of the party
recollected that the new church which had just been erected
was to be consecrated and opened for Divine service the
next day, under the direction of the Rev, Mr. Johnson,

OUTRAGEOUS PROCEEDINGS 331

Senior Chaplain of the Presidency. It was instantly deter-
mined by the drunken set that we should all attend the
religious ceremony. It was then about two o'clock. I
therefore suggested the propriety of retiring to bed, as other-
wise we might render ourselves wholly unfit to appear in a
place of Divine worship. My considerate proposal was
scouted, and instead of it a motion of Mr. Keighley's to
continue at the bottle until it was time to go to church was
carried by acclamation. We accordingly remained pouring
down claret until eight in the morning (Sunday), when the
gentlemen staggered to their respective rooms to put on
clean clothes. Having dressed we reassembled at the
breakfast-table, trying how far strong coffee would operate
towards sobering us. I then found the zeal for going to
church had considerably abated. At nine three carriages
being announced ready, upon mustering the party no more
could be prevailed upon to proceed than five, these were
Mr. Keighley, Colonel Mordaunt, Mr. Shearman Bird, Dr.
Bailey, and myself, who all stepped into Mr. Keighley's
coach and were rapidly conveyed to the church, the steps
of which we were only able to ascend by leaning upon and
supporting each other. It may easily be believed that in
such a state we sadly exposed ourselves, drawing the eyes
and attention of the congregation upon us as well as that of
the clergyman, who took occasion to introduce into his
sermon a severe philippic against inebriety, against indelicate
behaviour in a sacred place and Sabbath-breaking, and
directing those parts of his discourse pointedly to the pew
in which we sat. I have often thought since of that profligate
scene with shame and contrition.

A few weeks after the above disgraceful circumstances,
I had as usual spent Saturday at Russassugly. At one
in the morning 1 was mounting into my phaeton to go to
Calcutta, when Mrs. Keighley came to the door, and as she
had often done before, upbraided me for the folly of not
sleeping where I was instead of going such a distance. I
pleaded how much I felt the want of a night's rest, which
was invariably the case if I attempted to sleep in a strange

332 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

bed ; that the drive after supper was far from unpleasant,
and I would certainly be at Russassugly again before she
was up ; whereupon she gave me a hearty shake of the hand,
saying : " Well, you must do as you please ; so good night,
God bless you ! "

On Sunday morning whilst dressing I was told that Mr.
Chapman, who had been at the party the preceding day,
and whom I had left at Mr. Keighley 's, wished to speak to
me. Upon going to him, I said, " I suppose you are come
for a seat to Russassugly ; I see my phaeton is at the door,
so come along." To this, with a very melancholy face, he
replied, "It is all over with Russassugly. No more mirth
and jollity there for, alas, poor Mary Keighley is dead."
Confounded at such unexpected information, I asked the
particulars, when he said, he had been awakened by one of
his servants at 5 o'clock in the morning running into his
room and crying out that Mrs. Keighley was dying. Upon
which he instantly rose, and going to her chamber found she
had already expired. Mr. Keighley informed him he had
not been more than an hour in bed when he was called by
a female servant, who said her mistress was dreadfully ill ;
that upon going to her apartment (for they did not sleep in
the same chamber) he found her laying in a state of insensi-
bility. Dr. Bailey, who was in the house, being summoned,
opened a vein ; this with the application of powerful volatiles
restored her and in a few minutes she appeared materially
better, recovering her speech and recollection, when she
said that upon falling asleep she dreamt a similar hurricane
arose to that of the 2nd of November, that the windows
were burst open by the violence of it and in the same moment
one side of the house fell down burying her in the ruins,
after which she knew no more ; scarcely had she related
this extraordinary dream when she suddenly fell back in a
second fit from which she never recovered. About half -past
three with a deep groan she breathed her last. At five in the
evening of that very day, instead of partaking of her kind
and cheerful hospitality, as I had done the preceding one
and expected to have often repeated, I attended her lifeless

THE NUMBER THIRTEEN 333

body to its sad last mansion. These are awful lessons and
must cause a serious impression for a time at least even upon
the most thoughtless.

Mr. Keighley, although in some respects what is termed
a fashionable husband, had, notwithstanding, always lived
happily with his wife ; he appeared deeply afflicted by his
loss : for several days was inconsolable : and at the end of
a fortnight took unto himself another spouse, marrying a
Miss Peach, of whose delicacy I could not entertain a very
high opinion, as I conceived no female possessing a particle
of feeling could have consented to unite herself to a man
who had only been a widower a few days. I was invited to
the wedding dinner, where a circumstance occurred that if
I had before had a doubt of the bride's want of judgment
and understanding would have decided the point. In the
middle of the dinner she suddenly burst into a most violent
fit of crying, and rising from her seat ran out of the room ;
her husband instantly following her. The company imagined
she had been attacked with some sudden illness, which for
my part I could not help supposing arose from a stroke of
conscience, a compunction at so rapidly filling the place of
a former wife. A few minutes relieved us from our different
conjectures, Mr. Keighley returned laughing immoderately,
and told us the occasion of her distress and so suddenly
leaving the room was her discovering that the party present
consisted of the ominous number of thirteen ! Could any-
body have expected in these enlightened times so silly a
creature to exist in the rank of a gentlewoman, yet so it was.
The morning after this hasty wedding I received from a
jeweller a mourning ring, as one of the pall-bearers at the
funeral of the late Mrs. Keighley !

In the middle of the year (1788) my health became worse
than ever, scarce a week passed without a violent spasmodic
attack in my stomach which always greatly alarmed the
medical men who attended me. Several of my friends con-
ceiving I lived too freely, especially when I had parties at
home, advised me to leave off drinking claret. In compliance
with their wishes I did so, Mr. Dunkin, who had not a high

334 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

opinion of my resolution or that I should adhere to the
determination of abstaining from Lol Shrob, insisting upon
clogging me with a penalty. For this purpose he gave me
twenty-five gold mohurs, and I was to pay him one hundred
the first time I should be seen intoxicated ! I rigidly kept
to my plan for several months though without deriving any
material benefit therefrom. Dining one day with a very
jovial party at Mr. Dunkin's, having drunk my two or three
glasses of madeira, I sat dejected and out of spirits, when
Mr. James Dunkin suddenly exclaimed, " By God, Hickey,
if you persevere in this vile, abstemious existence for another
month you will send yourself out of the world. Take my
advice and drop it. Come, begin immediately by taking a
bottle or two of claret, which I will answer for it will do you
more good than all the doctors." To my great surprize,
Mr. Dunkin joined his namesake, saying, " Come, William,
as the sober plan seems to be universally reprobated, and
certainly has not been attended with the hoped-for success,
let us drop it, and return to generous red wine. As to our
agreement, let us agree to waive it ; for myself I, in the
presence of these respectable witnesses, undertake not to
exact the penalty of your drinking too much." He then
filled me a very large bumper of claret, the whole party
drinking to my speedy restoration to health. I drank at
least three pints, went to bed, slept better than I had done
for a long time, and rose the following morning quite a new
creature. Of course, I made no more experiments as to
leaving off wine.

About this period accounts reached India that an im-
peachment by the Commons of Great Britain had been
commenced in the House of Lords against Mr. Hastings for
malpractices during the time he filled the situation of
Governor-General, in which business my greatly esteemed
friend, Mr. Edmund Burke, took a very active part, by
doing which he created to himself a number of very bitter
enemies in Bengal, in which part of the world Mr. Hastings
had a host of enthusiastic admirers.

Our Bucks Society went on famously and was so popular

WILLIAM BURKE'S DUEL WITH DAVISON 335

that our Secretary's book was filled with the names of
candidates for admission. We therefore, after some debate
upon the point, extended the number of members to thirty-
five ; this increase, with the departure of several of the
Brothers from the Presidency, made the number to be
elected nineteen. Amongst the candidates was that trouble-
some fellow, Davison, who Mr. William Burke still continued
to patronise and support, notwithstanding he, from his in-
temperate behaviour, was in perpetual controversies and
broils. What that worthy and truly respectable man found
to admire in him no one could discover, his manners towards
everybody being supercilious, insolent and overbearing.
Their acquaintance first arose out of an extraordinary
circumstance. Mr. Burke and this young man, who was
then only twenty years of age and an ensign in the Company's
service at Madras, happened to meet at the same party at
dinner, where in the evening box and dice being produced
they set to at hazard. In the course of play a dispute arose
about a bet between Mr. Burke and Davison, when the
former told the latter he was an impertinent and silly cox-
comb and puppy, for which Davison sent him a challenge.
They met the following morning, exchanged a brace of
pistols when, through the interference of the seconds, the
matter was accommodated, Mr. Burke embracing his
antagonist, declaring he was a very high-spirited, noble boy.
From that day they became sworn friends, and Mr. Burke
upon all occasions supported and defended him in his follies
and extravagancies, not only paying his debts, which
amounted to a considerable sum, but supplying him with
cash whenever he chose to ask for it. To such an extent
was this carried that Mr. Prendergast assured me that within
eighteen months Mr. Burke had disbursed above four
thousand pounds upon him.

After my quarrel with Davison and our being mutually
bound to keep the peace no intercourse took place 'between
us for several months, nor did we in any way notice each
other if we casually met, until I was one day infinitely sur-
prized by a visit from him, when he declared that he enter-

336 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

tained a very sincere regard for me, exceedingly lamented
what had occurred, and begged my pardon for his violent
behaviour, which he said was entirely ascribable to his
being drunk : he therefore earnestly entreated that we
might be reconciled. Such humility in so haughty a man
astonished me, but as I did not see how I could with pro-
priety reject his advances we shook hands. After which he
called daily at my house, frequently asking permission to
dress there when engaged to dine in Calcutta as Mr. Burke
had no house in town. Of course he had the use of a chamber,
but he behaved so outrageously, beating and otherwise ill-
treating my servants, that after remonstrating with him in
vain, I forbid him my house. Still he used to persevere in
frequent calls.

Upon the establishment of the Bucks Society, Davison
expressed an earnest wish to belong to it ; for some time I
parried his applications to me by telling him I had already
the names of more friends to bring forward than could come
in turn for a long time. Yet he persisted in saying he was
sure I could secure his election if I chose it, that he knew he
was unpopular, that unless he had my avowed support he
should never succeed, and that if I proposed him the Lodge
would, in compliment to me as their President, elect him ;
in short, he continued so importunate that I at last con-
sented to propose him ; however, I am free to confess that
I did so from a conviction that his universal bad character
and his being detested by all who knew him, must effectually
bar the possibility of his being elected. Having ascertained
from the Keeper the day he was to be balloted for, he had
the presumption to go to the house we had taken and fitted
up for the sole use of the Society, saying he was certain
that from my having proposed him he should be elected.

It so happened that every individual member then in
Calcutta attended the meeting, which I concluded was for
the purpose of black-balling Davison, and I fully expected
that he would not have had one single vote for him except
my own and Mr. Mair's, who seconded me on the nomination.
Upon inspecting the box there were only two black balls,

MEETINGS OF THE BUCKS 337

these, however, being sufficient to exclude. I apologised
for leaving the chair a few moments, thinking it would be
civil to communicate the result to Davison myself. Whilst
talking to him upon the subject one of the members came
out and calling me aside requested I would not send Mr.
Davison away, but return to the Lodge. This I did, when
the Secretary told me he had good reason to believe that
the black balls were put in by a mistake ; the gentlemen,
therefore, wished to ballot again. Although I felt this was
said in compliment to me, I did not wish to avail myself of
the civility, yet knew not well how to decline it. A second
ballot then took place, and the candidate was unanimously
elected. Nothing was left, therefore, to me but to receive
the newly elected Buck. Mr. Rundell afterwards told me
that upon my leaving the room, Mr. Hall had addressed the
Lodge, expressing his concern at a candidate being rejected
who was proposed by their Noble Grand, and as such a cir-
cumstance was unprecedented, he trusted those brothers
who had inadvertently put in a black ball would correct
their error. The proposal was instantly adopted and Mr.
Davison elected. The very day that he thus became one of
the Society he made himself conspicuous by moving that
the Lodge should give a ball and supper to the Settlement ;
several persons present opposing this wild scheme, he in-
sisted upon taking the sense of the Lodge at large ; his
motion was thereupon balloted for when not a single
member, except himself, voted for it. This raised his ire
exceedingly, and from that time he began to speak dis-
respectfully of the Society wherever he went.

The election for Noble Grand being annual, and my year
drawing towards the conclusion, I directed the Secretary to
issue notices to every member to attend for the purpose of
choosing a new Noble Grand. Upon the day appointed
every member in Calcutta attended except Mr. Davison ;
the balloting-box being opened, it was found that' every
gentleman present had voted for me, there being no other
name in it but that of Mr. Rundell, which was put in by me.
The Secretary in declaring upon whom the election had

III.— Z

338 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

fallen, was pleased to pay me some high compliments : thus
I became a second time the President.

Mr. Davison, although every person seemed disgusted at
his doing it, continued to abuse and ridicule the Bucks . Mr.
Prendergast being in a large company where Davison was
very bitter in his remarks upon the Society, remonstrated
upon the indelicacy and impropriety of his conduct, but
his interference only increased the acrimony of Davison's
language, who ended his vulgar attacks by saying none but
blackguards belonged to it.

Mr. Prendergast the next morning, accompanied by a
friend, went to the house of Major Hervey, where Davison
was then upon a visit, with a fixed determination to make
the latter apologise for the coarseness of his speech the pre-
ceding evening. Being shewn into the room where Davison
and some ladies and gentlemen were sitting, Prendergast
desired to speak to Davison apart, who accordingly followed
him into the garden ; when there Prendergast reminded
him of the offensive expressions he had used, adding that
he was come to demand an apology or that he would give
him satisfaction. Davison said he wrould neither : that he
saw no occasion for apologising and certainly would not
involve his bail for keeping the peace in a scrape by going
out to fight. Prendergast told him the security given had
reference only to keeping the peace towards Mr. Hickey and
had nothing to do with any other individual. Davison, how-
ever, persisted that it was general, whereupon Prendergast
said he was a pitiful scoundrel, and immediately gave him
a severe horsewhipping. The same evening a gentleman
carried a challenge from Davison to Prendergast, in con-
sequence of which a meeting was fixed for the following
morning at the Dutch Settlement of Chins urah, where the
parties, each with a friend, attended accordingly, their
weapons being pistols. Dame Fortune, like the fickle jade
she sometimes proves herself, favoured the worthless, for
Davison at his second shot lodged a ball in his antagonist's
thigh, who was carried off the field in a dangerous state.
The surgeons put him to extreme torture in their fruitless

DAVISON'S DUEL WITH PRENDERGAST 339

endeavours to find and extract the ball. For several day*
his life was pronounced as irrecoverably gone, but the wise-
heads proved mistaken, the ball did not touch any vital part,
and after enduring much pain the wound healed and he
recovered.

The first time that Prendergaet attended the Lodge after
the above duel he stated every particular of the transaction,
commenting upon the persevering brutality of Davison in
refusing to apologise for the unwarrantable and opprobrious
epithets he had applied to the Society in general. A member
then observed he should submit two motions to the serious
consideration of the Lodge, and immediately moved that
the statement just communicated by Mr. Prendergast should
be entered upon the records, which being unanimously
agreed to, he next moved that under the circumstances
of the case, established by Mr. Prendergast, Mr. Davison
was unworthy of remaining upon the list of Bucks, that his
name therefore be expunged and he expelled with ignominy.
This motion also passed nem. con., several of the members
in forcible terms reprobating Davison's illiberal conduct ;
the Secretary was directed to communicate the result to
Davison, at the same time acquainting him he had been
ignominiously expelled by thirty -two members, the whole
number present. The fellow was vexed to the soul at this
issue of the business, his mortification being increased at
finding that the whole Settlement pronounced him egregiously
in the wrong — not a single person but condemned him,
except Mr. William Burke, from whom I received a letter
upon the subject couched in the most extraordinary terms,
vindicating his protege and as inconsiderately censuring the
Society for their violent measure. His intemperate epistle
concluded by calling upon me in rather dictatorial terms
" instantly to cause the disgraceful and illegal vote to be
rescinded'1 which was (he said) the only reparation we could
make an English gentleman.

This curious letter I endeavoured to answer with temper
but firmness ; I recapitulated the behaviour of Mr. Davison,
contrasting his indecent language with the mild and correct

340 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

lines pursued by Mr. Prendergast until driven to the
necessity of chastising him ; I lightly touched upon the
favourable opinion the Settlement at large entertained of
Mr. Prendergast, whilst Mr. Davison was universally
detested, despised, and by a few feared. I further observed
that any effort on my part to get the vote rescinded was
quite out of the question. The measure had not been hastily
or intemperately adopted, but after a candid and full investi-
gation it had resulted from the cool and unbiased judgment
of every gentleman present, thirty-two in number ; all men
of as nice honour and independent principles as any in the
world : I concluded by expressing my earnest hope that
the evident partiality he betrayed to Mr. Davison would
not interrupt the friendship he had honoured me with from
my earliest infancy. To this I got no reply ; Mr. Burke,
however, marked his feelings by increasing, if possible, his
attentions to Davison, whom he carried with him wherever
he went, carrying his partiality so far as to urge many
families who had been disgusted with the overbearing
conduct of Davison and wished to drop his acquaintance,
not only to forgive his improper conduct, but to invite him
to their best parties.

A few days after the foregoing letters had been exchanged
I met Mr. Burke at the Bengal Bank, when I perceived that
he would not acknowledge me. I nevertheless addressed
him as if nothing had happened to interrupt our familiarity,
but in return only got a cold, formal bow. I therefore deter-
mined to drop all intercourse with him, and as I was then
indebted to him for four thousand sicca rupees, which sum
I had borrowed upon an emergency to. pay off a creditor
who was becoming importunate, I immediately forwarded
that amount with the following letter : " Dear Sir, Having
now a supply of cash, I beg leave to return the four thousand
sicca rupees you was so good as to advance me a few months
ago, to enable me to discharge a debt that then pressed.
I am, dear Sir, Your obliged humble servant, W. Hickey."
To this I received a very angry reply, concluding, as I
thought, in equivocal terms, as he said there was an account

WILLIAM BURKE'S LOAN 341

subsisting between us which until properly adjusted he
should not receive any money from me ; he returned, there-
fore, the four thousand rupees. I had at different times
done business for Mr. Burke in my professional capacity,
but certainly had no more idea of making any charge for the
same than if I had been employed by my father, and the
more so as the whole had been for conveyancing or similar
matters in which there was no disbursement of cash. With
this impression upon my mind, I conceived the words
" properly adjusted " must allude to interest upon the four
thousand sicca rupees, under which notion I calculated the
exact sum due at the rate of 12 per cent per annum, again
enclosing the principal with that addition, apologising for
having omitted to send the interest before. To this letter
also I received a very indignant reply, wherein amongst
other strong expressions, he said, " Your father, sir, whom
I have loved like a brother more than fifty years, would not
have used me thus ; when, sir, did you ever know of my
receiving interest for a friendly loan or why do you insult
me by offering it ? I am your debtor to a considerable
amount for much business done on my account ; when it
suits your convenience to see what it amounts to, should
any balance remain due to me, I must of a course accept it
and you will be pleased to pay it into the Bengal Bank to
my account. I mean this so far as relates to principal but
no further. In the interim, I take leave, sir, again to return
a sum as not belonging to your most obedient servant,
W. Burke."

Upon the receipt of this letter, I immediately paid the
whole amount into the Bengal Bank on Mr. Burke's account,
and there the matter rested between us, except that Mr.
Mee subsequently often told me Mr. Burke positively
refused having anything to do with that money, actually
scratching the item out of his bank-book in which he had
been given credit for it. He therefore advised me to draw
upon it, which I as pertinaciously refused.

CHAPTER XXV

FAMINE IN BENGAL. A DISPUTE WITH THE

FRATERNITY OF MASONS. AN ACQUISITION

TO THE BAR

E December, 1788, Mr. William Dunkin took his passage
Jor Europe on board the Phcenix, Captain Gray, in the
ensuing January. I accompanied him a few miles down the
river to the country house of Mr. Farquharson (thentofore
Sir John Macpherson's) where we dined. In the evening
he embarked in a pilot's schooner that was to convey him
to the ship. The being deprived of his society was a serious
loss to me and I felt it acutely.

In February we lost Mr. Jeremiah Church, an advocate
of the Supreme Court, a good-humoured, pleasant man of
considerable talents, he was taken off very suddenly with
one of those violent fevers so prevalent in Bengal.

My friend Pott, soon after being deprived of the lucrative
situation he held, in which, however, he had not saved a
guinea, married Miss Cruttenden, a first cousin of his own,
a very charming woman who was universally admired and
respected and who proved an exemplary wife.

Mr. Philip Yonge, a barrister, having suffered in health,
took his passage for Europe, by whom I sent as a present
for my brother twelve views of different parts of Calcutta,
drawn and engraved in aqua tinta by Messrs. Daniell.

The house I inhabited upon the Esplanade now became
so bad as to render it dangerous, being liable to fall every
north-wester. I therefore gave my landlord notice I should
quit it at the end of the month. He thereupon called to say
he found me so excellent a tenant, he wished to retain me,
and if I would go into another mansion of his he would pull
down the house I left and rebuild it according to any plan

343

SHOCKING RESULTS OF FAMINE 343

I chose. I accepted the offer by inhabiting a very capital
house belonging to him in Council House Street. The very
day I left the old one he sent in workmen to commence
pulling it down.

The letters I received in April gave me every reason to
suppose my favourite sister, Ann, had serious thoughts of
coming out to me, but however much such an event would
contribute to my comfort, I could not for a moment think
of advising or permitting it, because I felt sure from all
accounts I had received of the sad state of her nerves and
her general health, that the climate of India would be
destruction to her. I therefore wrote in the strongest terms
to prevent her carrying such intention into execution.

This year a dreadful scarcity of grain prevailed, the crops
having failed throughout the Provinces of Bengal and
Behar, from which circumstance the laborious poor became
distressed for food to supply their families. In consequence
of this the British inhabitants of Calcutta, with their accus-
tomed benevolence, entered into a voluntary subscription
for their relief, whereby so large a sum was raised as to
enable them to feed upwards of twenty thousand men,
women, and children daily. Six different stations were
fixed upon in opposite directions for delivering out rice,
ghee, and other articles of provisions, two English gentle-
men attending at each station to superintend the proper
distribution ; this continued about four months when such
immense crowds of miserable creatures were drawn to the
Presidency by the hope of relief that Government became
alarmed and were under the unpleasant necessity of issuing
orders to stop the further delivery of rice, etc., after a
certain day therein specified, of which public and written
notices were proclaimed and stuck up all over the country
and every possible precaution was taken to prevent a further
influx of people to the Capital ; but nothing could stop the
unhappy, famished wretches from rushing in crowds to
Calcutta, the neighbourhood of which became dreadful to
behold. One could not stir out of doors without encounter-
ing the most shocking objects, the poor, starved people

344 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

laying dead and dying in every street and road. It was
computed that for many weeks no less than fifty died daily,
yet this patient and mild race never committed the least
act of violence, no houses or go-downs were broken into to
procure rice, no exclamations or noisy cries made for
assistance ; all with that gentle resignation so peculiar to
the natives of India, submitting to their fate and laying
themselves down to die. Everything in the power of liberal
individuals was done for their relief ; indeed, one must have
been less than man, absolute Buonapartes, to have witnessed
such horrible scenes of misery without feeling the bitterest
pangs and exerting every nerve to alleviate them.

A rumour now prevailed in Calcutta that the noble
Governor -General, Lord Cornwallis, had thoughts of taking
unto himself a wife, the lady destined for him being a Miss
Philpott, sister to the lady who after exercising her wit upon
Mr. Calvert, married him. The report, however, proved
unfounded, for while the peer was expected daily to announce
his intention, the fair one as suddenly and unexpectedly
became the wife of Mr. Harrington, a gentleman in the
Company's Civil Service, now a baronet.

Another report was that Sir John Macpherson was again
appointed Governor -General, and actually on his voyage
out to relieve Lord Cornwallis, while private letters from
England to individuals in Bengal asserted that Philip
Francis, Esquire, would be his lordship's successor.

Mr. George Wroughton, the Company's attorney, having
determined to leave India, called upon me earnestly to
recommend my forming a connection in business with Mr.
Benjamin Turner, who for several years had the entire
management of his office, conducting the same with equal
ability and integrity ; being a man of extraordinary mild-
ness he was a prodigious favourite amongst the opulent
natives. I readily agreed to follow Mr. Wr ought on's advice,
requesting he would undertake to arrange the matter
between us. This he set about with such zeal that in three
days Mr. Turner and myself executed a Deed of Partnership,
but as he was not at that time admitted an attorney, the
s

A USEFUL PARTNER 346

business continued in my name alone. I found him in every
respect a vast acquisition, active and clever, with indefatig-
able assiduity and a perfect master of his profession ; Mr.
Wroughton turned over all his best clients to our office,
giving us ample employment ; my house was crowded from
morning till night by natives flocking to Turner with their
different causes. I therefore wished him to assign some
part of them to me, to which he said there was no occasion ;
that he had long given himself up to the desk, the labours
of which had become habitual ; that he had no acquaint-
ances to lead him abroad and preferred giving up his whole
attention to business to any sort of amusement, besides
which he knew I went much into company, and had frequent
parties at my own house ; he therefore entreated that I
would continue to live as I had been used to do, and he
should do very well leaving me to see to the European
clients. He further undertook upon my declaring my utter
ignorance of arithmetic to keep the office accounts himself.
In consequence of this arrangement I ceased to fag as there-
tofore, becoming comparatively a man of pleasure.

Mr. Burke left Bengal for Madras, the duties of his office
of Pay master -General to His Majesty's troops requiring his
presence at the latter place. Major and Mrs. Cairnes also
went at the same time. Lord Cornwallis having written to
Lord Clive, then Governor of Fort St. George, to request he
would give the Major a Company in one of the King's regi-
ments upon the coast, Lord Clive did so immediately, but
from anxiety and fretting Major Cairnes's health was so
much undermined he was not able to join his regiment,
gradually grew worse and in about ten months departed
this life, leaving an amiable widow with a large family of
children entirely unprovided for. The usual liberality of
the East corrected the evil, a large sum was collected by
subscription for the benefit of the widow and children which
was paid into the hands of trustees.

Previous to Mr. Burke's leaving Calcutta our mutual and
kind and considerate friend, Mr. Benjamin Mee, successfully
exerted himself in bringing about a reconciliation between

346 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

him and me. We met at dinner at the Bengal Bank, shook
hands very cordially and to my great gratification parted
upon good terms. Mr. Burke took his protege, Mr. Davison,
with him to Madras , continuing to patronise and support him .

I shall here state a ridiculous dispute I got into with the
fraternity of Masons. The Lodge No. 2, in which I had been
made, had belonging to it several of the tradesmen of
Calcutta ; also two or three vagabond attornies, to neither
of which description of person did I ever speak, and was
therefore considered by them as extremely proud. A new
Lodge having been established, consisting of the principal
gentlemen of the Settlement, I sent in my resignation for
No. 2, and was elected a brother of the new Lodge. This
gave great offence to those I had left.

About two months after my change, I received an official
letter from the Secretary of my first Lodge, calling upon me
in very peremptory language without loss of time to pay
the sum of one hundred and fifty sicca rupees, stated to be
arrears of fees due from me to the Lodge. As I did not
approve of the manner in which this demand was made,
though indifferent about the amount claimed, I wrote an
answer without using the fraternal address, and began with
a simple " Sir." I observed upon the impertinence of the
demand, which I denied the justice of, and although I might
have probably paid had it been civilly asked, I would not
yield to the insolence of any low-bred fellow tacking to hie
signature the title of " Secretary." My letter being laid
before the Lodge, the Master and his Warden took the
matter up with much warmth ; another epistle was addressed
to me expressive of his surprize my unmasonic letter had
created, and requiring an explanation for such conduct. I
remained silent. A second and a third was written to me
which I treated with the same silent contempt. I was then
threatened with a complaint against me to the Provincial
Grand Lodge which had no more effect than the preceding
addresses.

During these letters I was elected Senior Warden of the
new Lodge, which had become extremely popular, so much

CONDUCT AS A MASON 347

so that at every meeting we had from eight to a dozen
brothers proposed. This success added to the irascibility of
the first Lodge : they actually did represent my conduct to
the Provincial Grand Lodge as being scandalous and deroga-
tory to the character of a Mason. Mr. Edward Fen wick,
of whom I have before spoken more than once, being then
the Acting Provincial Grand Master, called upon me to
admonish me privately as a friend, and advised my settling
the business by apologising to the Lodge I had insulted for
my intemperate language. This I refused to do, whereupon
I received an elaborate address from Mr. Fenwick, assuring
me my contumacious treatment of the Lodge I had belonged
to must and would be taken up very seriously, and if I per-
sisted in refusing to apologise, I should soon have occasion
to repent my obstinacy. At this I laughed.

A complaint was regularly made to the Provincial Grand
Lodge, where a difference of opinion prevailed amongst the
officers, some of them thinking that the Grand Lodge had
no right to take cognisance of such a complaint, my letter
being a private one from one individual to another in no
way to be considered as masonic. I had a strenuous advocate
and supporter in Mr. Hugh Gayer Honeycomb, the Junior
Grand Warden, who upon finding the Grand Master and
several members were for expelling me, insisted upon the
question being referred to the Grand Lodge of England for
their decision. This after a long debate was voted for, unless
I should upon more mature consideration see the propriety
of apologising. Mr. Fenwick, too, made another attempt to
work upon my feelings, in an address* consisting of eight
sheets of paper, containing an elaborate dissertation and
panegyric upon Masonry, followed by a strong censure of
my contumacious behaviour towards the Secretary of the
first Lodge, whom I had wantonly and unlike a Mason
offended and grossly insulted, for which offence, if I did not
satisfactorily apologise, the consequence must inevitably be
that I should be deprived of all the benefits of Masonry and no
longer be considered a brother. To this grave and voluminous
philippic I wrote a concise reply, saying, I had received

348 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

his (Fenwick's) letter, and notwithstanding the dreadful
anathema it contained certainly would not make any apology
either to a set of or an individual blackguard. This drove
the Provincial Grand Lodge gentry half crazy from conceiv-
ing their dignity attacked, though I had not addressed or
signed my letter as a Mason. The Acting Provincial Grand
Master immediately issued an order to the Master of the
new Lodge to elect a new Senior Warden in the stead of
William Hickey removed for contumacious and unmasonic
conduct. The Master of the new Lodge refused to obey,
but not liking to enter into a personal altercation upon the
question, resigned his chair, as did his Junior Warden ; thus
was a serious schism created amongst the fraternity in
Calcutta.

To finish this important matter at once. A reference
upon it, with all the circumstances, being made by the
Provincial Grand Lodge to the Grand Lodge of England,
the Grand Master and his Council returned for answer that
the Provincial Grand Lodge of Calcutta had no right to take
up the business in the way they had done, and had com-
mitted a gross error in removing the Senior Warden of the
new Lodge, whom, therefore, they ordered to be immedi-
ately restored to his situation. The letter concluded by an
expression of surprize at the Provincial Grand Master and
his Officers being so ignorant of what their duty was. This
was a matter of great triumph for me and my friends ; the
Provincial Grand Secretary sent me an official notice of my
restoration, and I was much importuned to resume the
station I had held, which, as I had never been very fond of
the Order, I persisted in declining, and from that time to
the present day have never been within a Mason's Lodge.

My friend, Mr. Jacob Rider, having disposed of his
daughter in marriage to Mr. Richard Comyns Birch, and his
saucy helpmate, Mrs. Rider, being tired of the sameness of
a Calcutta life, once more departed to take her share in the
more exhilarating scenes of London and Paris.

Mr. William Burke, upon his leaving Bengal to go to
Madras, presuming he should no more return to Calcutta,

PORTRAITS OF EDMUND BURKE AND FOX 349

presented me with an admirable bust of Mr. Edmund Burke,
a statuary of admitted merit and talent, executed by Mr.
John Hickey brother to the portrait painter, Thomas Hickey.
Unfortunately, this promising genius died in the prime of
life. Mr. William Burke also gave me a picture painted by
Thomas Hickey, being small size whole lengths of Mr.
Edmund Burke and Mr. Charles Fox, in which the former
was represented as reading the famous India Bill prepared
and brought into prominence by the latter. It was but an
indifferent performance, yet valuable to me from the tran-
scendent abilities of the two statesmen. This artist (Mr.
Thomas Hickey), finding business upon the decline in Bengal,
accompanied Mr. William Burke to Madras, where under
that gentleman's patronage and warm recommendation he
met with considerable encouragement.

In the hot weather of this year (1789) I suffered much
from attacks of spasm in the stomach which the medical
gentry pronounced unsettled gout. Be it what it might,
nothing gave me relief except large doses of laudanum,
having tried tincture of guiacum assafcetida, valerian, ether,
and all the string of nervous medicines without the least
benefit.

In July Lord Cornwallis gave a splendid entertainment
to the whole Settlement, in consequence of His Majesty's
recovery from mental derangement. Superb fireworks and
illuminations were prepared, but it proving a wet evening,
torrents of rain pouring down, totally prevented the intended
exhibition. Upwards of a hundred thousand small coloured
lamps were fixed on the southern front of the Government
House.

Mr. Michael George Prendergast, who had been one of
Mr. William Burke's proteges, having procured Lord Corn-
wallis's permission to settle at Dacca, went to reside in that
city, where he commenced maker of fine piece goods and
became a steady man of business.

Colonel Pearse, Commandant of the Corps of Artillery,
died this month ; his remains were attended to the grave
by Lord Cornwallis and all the Council. In less than a week

350 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

afterwards Captain Dixon, who had been aide-de-camp to
the Colonel, also died. He was a young man of great abil-
ities. He was taken ill and died in three hours after he was
first attacked. The season proved an uncommonly sickly
one, fatal to many ; amongst those carried off was Mr.
Atkinson, a barrister of the Supreme Court, who had come
to India by the advice of Mr. William Dunkin, that gentle-
man being an old and warm friend of Mr. Atkinson's father,
a respectable apothecary in Pall Mall. Mr. Atkinson was
taken ill in August, the symptoms being diseased liver ;
from the first he was uncommonly low-spirited, saying he
was sure he would not recover. On the 31st of August I
left town to spend a few days, as I frequently did, with my
friend, Major George Russell, at Barrackpore, early in the
morning of which day I called upon Mr. Atkinson, whom I
found quite despondent ; he cried bitterly, saying he felt
himself that he never should leave his room. As I did not
consider him in a dangerous state, I said all in my power to
console him and encourage him, though without effect.
Taking leave, I proceeded on my excursion, and on the 5th
of September received intelligence of his death, and that
by his will he had appointed me, jointly with Mr. James
Dunkin, an executor.

At the period I am now writing of Major Russell, although
he had attained the rank of a field officer, knew nothing of
military tactics, never having done a day's duty or relieved
a guard. He had acquired a very handsome fortune by
building the Barrackpore barracks and other public edifices
which, as already observed, he squandered away at the
gaming-table in England, and then returned to India to
endeavour to acquire a second independence. During my
visit to him, Colonel Sir Alexander Mackenzie, the com-
manding officer of the station, left the place, whereupon the
command devolved upon Major Russell, it becoming his
duty to muster the troops on the second of the month. On
the 1st the Major had a large party to dine with him.
Amongst the company were Major Farmer, Major Sir
Patrick Balfour, and Captain Norman Macleod, all of whom

AN IGNORANT MAJOR 351

commanded battalions of Sepoys and were considered three
of the best officers in the Company's service.

After dinner Major Russell, with much pleasantry, was
laughing at his own ignorance in military matters, at the
same time avowing his apprehensions he should commit
some blunder the following morning. The guests encouraged
him, observing that there was so little to do it would not
admit of mistakes for that the troops would be all assembled
in line under arms ready to receive him, the only motions
being four, executed by beat of drum, ruffle and flam alter-
nately, after which he would receive the returns from the
respective officers, and there would be an end of the business.
" Aye," said Russell, " but then depend upon it, I shall
make them ruffle instead of flam, and flam instead of ruffle."
" No," said Lieutenant Thomas, an admirable officer, who
was Adjutant of Captain Macleod's battalion, " that cannot
be, the drummers knowing their duty too well. However,"
continued he, " for your satisfaction, I will render any mis-
take impossible," and calling for pen, ink, and paper he
wrote down precisely what the Major had to do, saying, "I,
Sir, will attend you, and I'll answer for it no Commander-in-
Chief could go through the ceremony better than you will."
This created much mirth, Major Russell insisting that the
same party should dine with him the next day to con-
gratulate or censure him according to his deserts. We
accordingly met, when the Major received the congratula-
tions of the military men upon the able manner in which he
had performed his duties. Never did a more convivial or
merrier set get together than w^e were.

Towards the end of the year Mr. John Shaw arrived in
Calcutta ; he was a young man of high reputation as a
scholar and lawyer, and being connected with the family of
Mr. Davies, the Advocate-General, the latter gentleman
received him as his guest. Contrary to expectation, Mr.
William Burke again came to Bengal, and during his stay
we were as familiar and friendly as we had ever been.

In November William Burroughs, Esquire, also a barrister,
come out to practise in his profession, arrived, bringing with

352 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

him letters from my father and sisters, to whom he was well
known. He appeared, from the manner in which they
mentioned him, to be a favourite. My sister Ann particu-
larly expressed her wish that I would shew him every
attention in my power. My father, too, spoke of him in
terms highly complimentary : he observed that he was a
gentleman who had pleaded with ability and considerable
success at the Irish Bar, had married a young lady of beauty
and merit, in right of whom he became possessed of a valu-
able estate, and of which he remained the possessor near
twenty years when a new claimant to the property started
up, instituted a suit at law for the recovery thereof, and
after much litigation was finally successful, whereby Mr.
Burroughs was reduced from affluence to merely what he
made in his profession, the evil being increased by the
heavy sum he was obliged to expend in carrying on the
contest which involved him so deeply in debt that he was
under the necessity of secreting himself to avoid a prison,
so left Ireland and came over to England, where he resided
under a feigned name.

Through the kindness of my father and other friends,
Mr. Burroughs was enabled to make a small provision for
his deserted wife and children and to equip himself for the
East Indies, where he was desirous of trying his fortune.
It not being the season of the Company's ships sailing he
went across the Channel to L'Orient, at which place he
engaged a passage on board a French East Indiaman ; very
fortunately for him he met two other English gentlemen
who had gone to France for the same purpose as he did, and
took their passages in the same ship : these were Mr. Charles
Purling, an old Civil servant upon the Bengal establishment,
and Mr. John Palmer, a son of my esteemed friend, Major
William Palmer. After a short and pleasant voyage they
arrived safely at Pondicherry, the principal French Settle-
ment on the coast of Coromandel, where upon landing Mr.
Purling alone, whose rank had been ascertained, was treated
with the utmost respect and attention. The Governor
invited him to reside at his house, and several splendid

BEGINNING OF MR. BURROUGHS' SUCCESS 363

entertainments were made for him, while on the contrary
Messrs. Burroughs and Palmer were wholly neglected, or if
mentioned at all it was by the contemptible title of " Les
Gens de petits Moyens" in order to distinguish them from
their more dignified countryman Purling ; this greatly hurt
their pride and vexed them, but they were without remedy.

I found Mr. Burroughs a lively, sensible, shrewd man,
appearing to possess sound judgment, and a perfect scholar,
at that time mild and unassuming. Such a man I felt happy
to treat with every degree of kindness and attention in my
power ; for several months after his arrival at Calcutta he
took no step whatsoever, whether material or immaterial,
without previously consulting me. One day, chatting over
the business of the Court and discussing the characters of
the different practitioners, he laughingly observed that since
his arrival he had heard of nothing but the transcendent
abilities, the wonderful acuteness and talent of Mr. Davies,
the Advocate-General, who was said to monopolise all the
business of the Court, but, continued he, this surprising
genius cannot be on both sides at once, and certainly I shall
not have the least objection to meet him in the field, and try
what my, perhaps, weak exertions can do against him. I
liked this spirit in him, and upon his enquiring how Mr.
Davies had obtained the degree of weight he possessed, I
gave him all particulars I knew.

Mr. Burroughs candidly informed me of the precise state
of his affairs and the circumstances under which he had left
England, expressing himself very gratefully for the extra-
ordinary kindness my father had shewn him in the time of
his distress ; that, situated as he was, his inclination and
attachment to his family equally induced him to save every
sixpence that was possible : that should he be successful in
his profession, he was resolved not to expend one rupee more
than was unavoidable. To this I answered that, praise-
worthy as such an intention certainly was, yet the nature of
the climate and the execution of the duties of a laborious
profession made it indispensably requisite to have certain
comforts, or what perhaps might be by some persons deemed

III.— 2 A

354 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

luxury, for the preservation of health : such as a good habi-
tation in an open, airy part of the town, a saddle-horse for
the sake of exercise, and above all other things never to
drink bad wine. To all this he objected, saying the smallest
house he could procure would suffice, horses he would have
nothing to do with nor any expensive European liquors. In
spite of my strongest remonstrances, he hired a wretched
little hovel in a narrow, dirty back lane, furnishing it with
a bad and a few chairs and a table. But notwithstanding so
miserable, so parsimonious an outset, I lived to see this very
man the most ostentatious and in some instances the most
extravagantly expensive man in Bengal, his manners alter-
ing as much as his mode of living ; from being the most
humble he became insolent, overbearing and arrogant, so as
to be universally despised and detested.

CHAPTER XXVI

UPHOLDING THE RAJAH OF TRAVANCORE.

COMMODORE CORNWALLIS AND THE ANDAMANS.

SIR PAUL JODDREL AND MISS CUMMINGS

IN the first term of the year 1790, 1 had a question of con-
siderable importance and agitation in Court. It was a
matter of account between an eminent Mogul merchant,
named Hadjee Mahattee, and his agent, a European, the
merchant accusing the said agent with having committed a
variety of frauds and having cheated him to an amount of
£50,000, which sum he sought to recover ; the agent denied
the charge in toto, and to law they went with mutual acri-
mony and vehemence. I was the solicitor for Hadjee
Mahattee, Mr. William Dunkin his leading counsel, Mr.
Davies being engaged on the part of the European agent.
We filed a Bill in Equity for discovery and an account, to
which the defendant demurred, and it was this demurrer
that stood for argument soon after Mr. Burroughs' com-
mencing business in the Supreme Court. I was perfectly
aware that Mr. Advocate-General felt confident of success
and that he should establish his demurrer ; I laid the whole
of the papers before Mr. Burroughs, with a fee of fifty gold
mohurs, the largeness of which was an agreeable surprize, and
made him sit down to the consideration of the case with the
most earnest attention. At the end of a week, during which
my client and myself had been often with him consulting
upon the merits, he became quite master of the subject and
told me he had not the least doubt but that he should be
able to support the Bill, and compel the defendant to
account, notwithstanding the brilliant talents of his adver-
sary, Mr. Davies, which had been so thundered in his ears,
and to the determined partiality and well-known prejudice
of the Acting Chief Justice.

355

356 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

The demurrer being called on the Advocate-General in
support thereof spoke with such force that the auditors one
and all thought there must be an end of the complainant's
Bill. Mr. Burroughs then rose, and in an elegant speech,
delivered with great fluency and in the most correct language,
faced the subject in a totally different view to what the
defendant's counsel had done, commenting upon the various
circumstances of the case with a clearness and perspicuity
that delighted every person that heard him, except those
directly interested upon the occasion. In a few minutes
after he had begun to speak, I perceived that Mr. Davies
did not feel himself so secure of success as he had previously
expressed himself. My idea upon this was corroborated by
his calling me and desiring I would instantly retain Mr.
Burroughs for Breroo Dutt, who had a cause of great magni-
tude depending, I being his Attorney, observing also that he
(Mr. Burroughs) was a man of superior ability. In half an
hour more he expressed a similar wish respecting another
client of mine, and before Mr. Burroughs finished he (Mr.
Davies) desired Mr. Turner, my partner, to retain Mr.
Burroughs in every cause in my office, wherein he (Davies)
engaged for my clients, adding " That man will, I see, give
me more trouble than the rest of the Bar united."

Mr. Burroughs proved successful, the demurrer being
overruled. The new Advocate was highly complimented by
both the Bench and the Bar on the eloquence as well as legal
knowledge he had displayed. This commencement was, as
he afterwards frequently declared, the foundation of his
fortune. During three following days his study was filled
with a succession of natives of rank and of attornies, all
pouring in retainers, both special and general, to such an
extent that he exultingly produced his book of fees whereby
he shewed me that he had already received upwards of
fifteen hundred gold mohurs. I never beheld anything equal
to his joy and the expressions of eternal gratitude he used
to me for thus early affording him an opportunity of publicly
shewing his professional talent ; he professed himself to
have been raised from the borders of despair to the very

A NEW RESIDENCE 357

pinnacle of happiness entirely through me. While I re-
mained with him he wrote to an Agency house to send him
a remittance to England of one thousand guineas, which
having received he again turned to me with tears starting
into his eyes, and, taking my hand impressively, said : " All
I possess in the world I am indebted to your friendship for,
nor can I ever sufficiently make my acknowledgment ; I
should have felt supremely blessed in the idea of being able
to do as much as this for my family (pointing to the bills of
exchange upon the table) at the end of twelve months
instead of in a few days only after my arrival. " I sincerely
congratulated him, observing there could be no doubt of his
future success ; but that in order to ensure a stock of health,
so as to enable him to bear the fatigue both of body and
mind in executing the duties of his profession, he must
necessarily relax a little occasionally, and that he must get
into a better house, purchase horses, a carriage, etc. To
this he civilly replied that he had already found my opinion
and advice so advantageous that selfish motives would
induce him in future to follow it whenever I kindly gave it.
So elated was he that he soon went from one extreme to the
other, became intoxicated with his good fortune, proving
how difficult a thing it is to bear success with moderation.

I derived much amusement from daily superintending the
progress of my new house, in the building and completing
of which Mr. Robertson, the proprietor, neither spared his
own attention nor his cash, the bricklayers' and carpenters'
materials all being of the best.

I had the pleasure to receive a letter from Mr. William
Dunkin, written during his stay at St. Helena, at which
island he was in perfect health, but said they had rather a
long passage from Bengal to it.

In March, 1790, my new mansion being finished and very
handsome, I removed into it. I furnished it in such a style
as gained universal approbation and acquired me the reputa-
tion of possessing great taste. The principal apartments
were ornamented with some immense looking-glasses, also
with a number of beautiful pictures and prints, forming

358 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

altogether a choice and valuable collection. The expence
was enormous, but as I looked only to pleasant times, hav-
ing no idea I should ever be able to lay up a fortune, I was
indifferent about the price of things, purchasing every
article I felt any inclination for. When completed my house
was pronounced to be the most elegantly fitted up of any
in Calcutta, and, in fact, there was no one like it. Some of
my facetious acquaintances christened it " Rickey's picture
and print warehouse."

I now felt another deprivation consequent on such a
fluctuating society as Calcutta. This was the departure of
Dr. Allen, who tempted by the prospect of great personal
advantage was induced to leave the Presidency to settle at
Dacca. His attentions to me as a physician had been un-
remitting. He had studied my constitution critically, and
although he could not eradicate the complaints under which
I suffered, he considerably lessened them, ascertaining, too,,
some points of importance, one of which was that mercury,
no matter how prepared, always proved injurious if taken
inwardly ; also that all powerful operating drugs did me
harm. He therefore substituted a mixture, consisting of
senna, manna, cream of tartar, and two or three other
trifling ingredients that accorded better with my stomach and
intestines than any medicine I had before taken, and which
I continued to use successfully until my return to England.

I found very material advantage from occasional excur-
sions from Calcutta, and frequently spent two or three days
at a beautiful spot about thirteen miles from the Presidency,
called Baraset, where Mr. Yates, a keen old sportsman who
was well known upon the turf at Newmarket and elsewhere,
had a delightful country seat, and where I was always sure
of meeting a pleasant society ; the only drawback to these
visits was the host's great love of wine, which he drank to
excess, daily committing a debauch. Though as correct and
well-bred a gentleman as ever lived when sober, in his cups
he was far otherwise, being then petulant, irascible, and
disposed to be quarrelsome. Nothing excited his ire more
than refusing to follow his example by swallowing enormous

AN UNQUALIFIED TRANSLATOR 359

quantities of wine ; I, however, generally contrived to steal
off at a reasonable hour, and being considered an invalid
the landlord would not molest me ; whereas if any other
guest skulked or attempted to make his escape from the
room Mr. Yates made a point of ferreting him out of his
hiding-place and drenching him with penalty bumpers.

Mr. Yates was a Gloucestershire man, possessing a hand-
some estate in that county which he run out, and then like
many undone heroes took refuge in the plains of Hindustan,
being at that period at least forty-five years of age. In order
to get to India, with the permission of the Court of Directors
he obtained the rank of a cadet in their military service:
Mr. Wheler, a member of the Supreme Council and at the
time of Mr. Yates 's arrival in Bengal, Vice-President, Mr.
Hastings, the Governor -General, up the country upon
business of importance, being acquainted with Mr. Yates 's
family and desirous of serving him, appointed him his aide-
de-camp, and made him Persian translator to Government,
he not knowing a single word of the language. From the
emoluments of those two situations he saved during the
period he held them upwards of twenty thousand sicca
rupees.

The intense heat of the month of May this year proved
more hostile to me than usual, having more violent spas-
modic attacks than I had ever experienced. Dr. Hare, who
had occasionally attended me with Dr. Allen for the two
preceding years, became my sole physician, for I found no
benefit from multiplicity of opinions. One day that I
thought myself dying I sent for Dr. Hare who, after the
common form of pulse feeling and asking various questions,
said he would order me some medicine, for which purpose
he called for writing apparatus. I then told him I had for
some time been used to taking a prescription of Dr. Allen's,
which answered every purpose and agreed perfectly well,
neither producing sickness nor any disagreeable effect.
Upon his desiring to know what this prescription was, I
produced the original, whereupon he said, " Then by all
means continue to take it. From seeing what it consists of,

360 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

I should have imagined it could not have answered the
intended purpose, it appearing to me to be only fit for a
child." Those ingredients I continued to take with every
advantage until I left India, and occasionally whilst upon
the voyage to Europe.

Tippoo Sultaun, son and successor to Hyder Ali, and a no
less inveterate enemy to the English than his father had
been, having wantonly and unprovokedly attacked the
Rajah of Travancore's territories, as was conjectured merely
because the Rajah was the steadfast friend and faithful ally
of Great Britain, the Supreme Government of India deter-
mined to uphold the Rajah, and accordingly issued orders
to the Governor and Council of Madras to send troops to his
assistance ; but Mr. Holland, who then presided, appearing
averse to do as directed, and the Governor-General enter-
taining some doubt of his integrity, his lordship deter-
mined to proceed to the coast, there to take the command
of the Army upon himself, for which purpose everything
was put in train, and he was upon the eve of departure
when a dispatch reached Calcutta announcing the arrival
of His Majesty's frigate, the Vestal, which vessel brought
out the nomination of Sir William Meadows to the Govern-
ment of Madras. Whereupon, Lord Cornwallis, knowing
he might rely upon that gallant and experienced officer's
executing any orders of his, relinquished the intention of
going himself, and wrote to say what his objects were, to
Sir William, at the same time informing him that men,
money and stores should be furnished from Bengal. A
large detachment, consisting of three companies of artillery
with two of His Majesty's regiments, were accordingly em-
barked for the coast of Coromandel forthwith, and six
battalions of native troops were likewise ordered to get
ready with all dispatch for the same destination by land,
the sepoys in those days not having conquered their reli-
gious prejudices so far as to consent to go on board ship as
they have since often done, and that for considerable dis-
tances, which has proved highly advantageous to the East
India Company. The Sepoy corps were to be under the

THE ANDAMANS 361

command of Lieutenant-Colonel Cockerell, an officer of
great judgment and experience, my friend, Major Russell,
being second in command.

The Vestal brought us the first account of that most extra-
ordinary and, as it has fatally turned out, dreadful and ever
to be lamented event the French Revolution, the evils of
which now seem to portend the utter ruin of the whole
Continent of Europe, and, it is to be apprehended, ultimately
of the island of Great Britain.

Commodore Cornwallis, Commander-in-Chief of the
British Squadron in the Eastern Seas and brother to the
noble Governor -General, though very unlike him both in
person and manner, came to visit his lordship. The
commodore was a living Trunnion, but more of a brute
than Smollet made his hero. After a sojourn of three weeks
in Calcutta, during which he abused or found fault with
everybody and everything, he took his departure for a
country better adapted to his rough temper and disposition,
that is the Andamans, a cluster of islands situated in the
Bay of Bengal, off the eastern coast of Pegu and Siam, and
said to be inhabited by a race of anthropophagi or cannibals,
described by some historian as being utterly incapable of
civilization. Amongst this savage people did the valiant
Commodore Cornwallis (and valiant he indisputably was,
of which he gave abundant proofs) prefer living to that of
a polished society of an English settlement. In common
justice to him, however, let me add, that in his apparently
strange attachment he had a particular object in view, that
of forming a colony upon the grand Andaman, which island
was well known to abound with forest timber of a fine quality
and prodigious size equally well suited for ships or buildings.
The grand Andaman had also one of the noblest and most
spacious harbours in the world. In consequence of Com-
modore Cornwallis's strong recommendations, and the
favourable representations he continually made respecting
the national advantages to be derived from securing a
permanent footing upon the Andamans, the Government of
Bengal at last resolved to establish a settlement upon at

362 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

least one of them, to execute which Major Alexander Kyd,
an able Engineer officer, with the requisite assistants,
artificers, a body of troops and stores of every kind, were
dispatched from Fort William ; fortifications were con-
structed and other public buildings erected, everything
going on as well as could be wished, when a stop was suddenly
put to any further proceedings by orders from England, the
Court of Directors having come to a resolution that Pulo
Penang, now called Prince of Wales's Island, situate nearly
at the mouth of the Straits of Malacca, should be the place
for establishing a settlement upon ; in which determination
every man of science and capable of judging upon such a
subject pronounced the Leadenhall folks egregiously wrong ;
their fiat, however, being irrevocable, Commodore Corn-
wallis's favourite plan was abandoned, the works and build-
ings which had been constructed upon the Andaman were
demolished, lest any other European Power should land
upon the island and be benefited from seeing such things
ready prepared to fix themselves there ; thus was an
enormous sum of money absolutely thrown away.

During Commodore Cornwallis's residence at Calcutta, I
became acquainted with two very fine fellows belonging to
his fleet, Captain Smith, an old post-captain, who com-
manded the Perseverance, a noble frigate, and Captain
Delgarno, of the Atlanta, sloop of war. The latter, who was
without exception the most drunken varlet I ever saw, was
a prodigious favourite of the Commodore's, who had made
him a master and a commander, intending further promo-
tion for him when opportunity offered. For these naval
gentlemen I made several jovial parties during their sojourn
among us, always giving them champagne and claret to
their hearts' content. At one of the dinners I gave them
Mr. William Burke, Mr. Royds, Captains Rees, Smith and
Gray, the three latter all commanding Indiamen, Captain
Buchanan of the John packet, on board of which Mr. Royds
had recently come passenger from England, Mr. Burt, chief
officer of the Dublin, and others were present. After a sad
debauch, about three o'clock in the morning, my party

DOGS AT TABLE 363

being then reduced to half a dozen, a variety of cold meats,
grills, etc., which we had been eating of remaining upon the
table, two favourite dogs of mine came to me when, as was
my custom, I began to feed them with cold roast beef, which
raised the ire of Mr. Burt, who abused me exceedingly,
swearing I must be deficient in breeding or I should never
have attempted to feed a parcel of damned dirty curs in the
presence of gentlemen, and by God he would remain no
longer in the house of a man guilty of so unpardonable a
rudeness, and he instantly rose from his seat and staggered
downstairs. Beastly drunk as he certainly was, and, indeed,
I was myself far gone, I could not but be surprized at so
strange and unexpected an attack upon me. But as I made
great allowances to the state he was in and never was
quarrelsome myself when in my cups, I was easily persuaded
by Captains Smith and Delgarno not to take any serious
notice of what Mr. Burt had said.

The day after it had occurred I was talking over the un-
accountable violence of Mr. Burt with Captain Buchanan,
when Mr. Burt was announced, who, accompanied by Captain
Smith of the Dublin, had called to make every possible
atonement for his abominable and outrageous conduct of
the preceding night. Never did I behold a man more truly
hurt and distressed than he appeared to be. It seems he
had no recollection whatsoever of the circumstance, but
when Captain Smith asked him about it upon first seeing
him that morning, and telling him how shamefully he had
abused me, he felt quite ashamed of himself, and could not
rest until Captain Smith agreed to accompany him to my
house, there to offer any sort of apology I might require.
Mr. Burt and I shook hands, he expressing his grateful
sense of my good-nature in so readily forgiving his improper
behaviour.

Captain Delgarno was upon all occasions a. zealous
defender of Commodore Cornwallis, insisting that a great
part of his roughness of address and manners was assumed,
his natural disposition being far otherwise ; that the cause
of the frequent quarrels he was said to be involved in arose

364 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

from the want of consideration in the officers by either omit-
ting to carry into effect the orders he gave, or impatiently
replying to his complaints of their inattention. " I am
certain (said Captain Delgarno) " that were I to be in the
same ship there never would be an angry word passed
between us, and if left to my own choice, I would prefer
being his captain to any other man in the Navy." Captain
Delgarno, however, verified the remark of its being much
easier to preach than to practise, for shortly after he made
the above speech he gained the rank of post and had com-
mand of the flagship given him, Commodore Cornwallis
having then attained the rank of Admiral. Only three days
did he serve under the man he had professed to know so
well how to manage, ere a violent dispute occurred, in which
Captain Delgarno, instead of yielding a jot to his command-
ing officer, strenuously opposed him, in consequence of
which from being the warmest friends they became inveterate
enemies, so much so as within the short period of two months
to induce Captain Delgarno to resign the command of the
Admiral's ship and take his passage to Europe on board an
East Indiaman.

Charles Sealy, Esquire, a barrister of the Supreme Court,
a man universally respected, who had been many years in
Bengal, where he married one of the daughters of Captain
Cudbert Thornhill, the master attendant, by which lady he
had a numerous family, having the grievous misfortune to
lose her after a short illness, became disgusted with the
place, resolving to quit the country and go to pass the re-
mainder of his life amidst his own relatives in England,
where several of his children had already been sent for
education.

All who knew Mr. Sealy were surprized at his determina-
tion of leaving India, for although he had acquired an ample
fortune the habits and customs of the country seemed to
have become congenial to him and he appeared so attached
to them as to make his connections fear he would not be
happy under the change to a European mode of life. He,
however, thought otherwise, made the trial and fell a

SIR PAUL JODDREL AND HIS ACTION 366

martyr to it, as he died whilst upon a journey to Salisbury,
his native town, a few months after his arrival in England.

Just after my friend Mr. Sealy's departure, I had a trial
to come on in which I felt a peculiar interest. My client,
who was the defendant, was the editor of a Calcutta news-
paper, the plaintiff being Sir Paul Joddrel, physician to
His Highness the Nabob of Arcot. Sir Paul resided with
his family at Fort St. George ; it consisted of himself, Lady
Joddrel, a young lady of the name of Cummings, whom he
introduced to everybody as his niece, and who appeared in
all parties the companion of Lady Joddrel, and a female
child who was supposed to be Sir Paul's by Lady Joddrel.
After residing upwards of two years at Madras, mixing with
the best society of the place, Captain Carlisle of the Artillery
paid his addresses to Miss Cummings, and all matters were
in fair train for their wedding, when an awkward report got
about the Settlement that this Miss Cummings instead of
being Sir Paul Joddrel's niece was, and long had been, his
mistress, with which curious fact Lady Joddrel was well
acquainted, and that the child which was supposed to have
been Lady Joddrel's, was Sir Paul's by Miss Cummings. An
intimate friend of Captain Carlisle's having heard this extra-
ordinary rumour, thought it his duty to communicate the
same to Captain Carlisle, in order to put him on his guard
and afford him an opportunity of making some enquiries as
to the truth or falsity of so uncommon a story. Captain
Carlisle thereupon endeavoured to trace the report to its
source, when he learnt that the circumstances had been first
promulgated by a gentleman recently arrived from England,
where he said the matter was publicly discussed and
generally believed.

Miss Cummings was at this time upon a visit to my friend
Mrs. Cairnes, the Major's widow, which lady upon the facts
coming to her ears at once put the question to her guest,
and to her great surprize Miss Cummings without the least
hesitation acknowledged both charges were but too true.
A meeting of the patrons and patronesses of the Female
Orphan Society, of which Sir Paul was an active member,

366 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

was thereupon summoned, and the unworthy knight's name
immediately expunged from the list. The managers of the
Public Rooms following the example thus set determined to
refuse Sir Paul and his family all access thereto, to effect
which they caused advertisements to be published in a
weekly paper called the Madras Courier, stating the pro-
ceedings of the Asylum and Public Rooms managers, and
the reason. These advertisements were afterwards copied
into the Calcutta public prints, and my unfortunate client
not content with merely copying them chose to animadvert
in very severe terms not only upon the shocking depravity
and immorality of such conduct, but the unparalleled
impudence of a man who felt conscious of committing such
enormity obtruding himself and his iniquitous associates
into correct modest families.

For these observations and comments Sir Paul attacked
the Bengal editor, although he had never attempted to do
so by the Madras printer or editor, both of whom were well
known, contenting himself as to them with violent threats
of a prosecution, but instead of carrying such threats into
execution, he and his precious family suddenly removed
themselves bag and baggage to the French Settlement of
Pondicherry, where they were out of the reach of the process
of British Courts of Justice.

I had the good luck to secure the assistance of Mr.
Burroughs for my client, actually meeting the plaintiff's
attorney going upstairs to Mr. Burroughs' house to retain
him as I was descending from having already done so.
From the peculiarity of our case we could not think of
justifying, neither had we any other evidence to give than
that the obnoxious language had first appeared in the Madras
Courier, and that the account was generally believed at that
Presidency and publicly discussed, in consequence of which
Sir Paul had abandoned his post and fled to a foreign settle-
ment.

Mr. Davies, as counsel for the plaintiff, was very bitter in
his statement. Anticipating what the defence would be he
met the same with equally ingenious and powerful argu-

WHY DID SIR PAUL ABSCOND ? 367

ments, contending that the defendant shewed his malignant
disposition by the grossness of his comment upon the
conduct of an individual whom the liberality of the laws of
his country considered innocent until otherwise determined
by a jury. Mr. Burroughs made the most of our case, urging
with much force and eloquence all the favourable circum-
stances. Sir Robert Chambers, in pronouncing judgment,
observed that had the defendant contented himself with
simply copying what had been published in the Madras
Courier he should not have considered the plaintiff entitled
to anything more than nominal damages, but the remarks
and comments he had voluntarily and unnecessarily chosen
to insert in his paper, in addition to the Madras advertise-
ment, materially altered the case, and no legal justification
thereof having been pleaded, the plaintiff must have a judg-
ment. They therefore awarded Sir Paul Joddrel the sum of
fifty rupees as damages ! Mr. William Burke was a strenuous
and violent advocate of Sir Paul Joddrel, swearing the whole
story was a base and infamous calumny, a fabrication, a
conspiracy, a mere party affair, which the abandoned and
profligate niece had from interested motives joined in, basely
conspiring to stigmatise and destroy the character of a
respectable and worthy member of society ! An unanswer-
able question did away with Mr. Burke's opinion. " Why
then did Sir Paul secretly abscond and seek protection under
a foreign flag ? If innocent, why not manly meet the charge
which, if void of foundation, could easily have been refuted,
at least so far as concerned the birth of the child, which he
represented to be Lady Joddrel's ? "

CHAPTER XXVII

PURCHASING A GRAVE NEAR CHARLOTTE'S.

A STRANGE STORY OF A CHAPLAIN

AND AN UNDERTAKER

CAPTAIN Smith of the Perseverance brought Sir Richard
Strahan, who commanded the Vestal frigate, recently
arrived from Europe, to my house to introduce him to me,
and I had the pleasure of his acquaintance during his stay in
Bengal. He frequently did me the honour to dine with me.
The second time of his doing so he brought with him a young
midshipman belonging to his ship, Lord William Townshend,
son to the Marquis of Townshend, about thirteen or fourteen
years of age, who appeared to be a fine, pickle boy. He got
excessively drunk, at which Sir Richard was highly offended,
and he gave his little protege a severe lecture, which appeared
to be quite thrown away. Upon my inviting them again to
dinner, Sir Richard only consented to his noble midshipman's
being of the party upon my promising not to ask him to
drink any wine, and he placed the young sprig of nobility
next to himself at table in order to keep a watchful eye over
him, a thing he knew to be necessary to prevent his commit-
ting excess.

This boy from infancy had a tendency to insanity. Some
years after his being in India, he was travelling in England
with one of his brothers in a post-chaise, when their conver-
sation was whether life under all the evils that attended it
was worth keeping ? After a long discussion they were both
of opinion that the evils so greatly outweighed the blessings
that existence was not desirable : they therefore immedi-
ately determined to withdraw themselves from it, and tak-
ing out a pair of pistols they had in the carriage they in-
tended each to shoot the other, or each to shoot himself.

368

A DEATH PACT BY YOUNG BROTHERS 369

It was never ascertained which was the fact ; one shot took
effect, proving fatal instantaneously, I do not recollect upon
which of them ; the other pistol missed fire. The postilion
stopping upon hearing the report, got off his horse and open-
ing the door of the carriage found one of them fallen off his
seat, weltering in his blood, the other sitting very composedly.
Upon being asked what had happened to his brother he
made no answer, nor would he ever state a single circum-
stance relative to the transaction. He has ever since been
confined as a lunatic.

My health now became worse than ever, myself and
friends thinking I was not long for this world. In a parti-
cularly violent spasmodic attack Dr. Hare gave me a dose
of laudanum which although I swallowed as directed I did
without any idea of its affording me relief, observing that I
knew what it was from the smell and was certain it would
rather increase than lessen my torment, laudanum having
invariably done so. To this the doctor answered, " Possibly
that may hitherto have been the case ; but my laudanum
is very differently prepared to what you have been used to
take and I am quite clear will be of service." This was
about eleven o'clock at night. The doctor sat by my bed-
side to watch the effect of the medicine. For about an hour
the pain decreased when the spasms returned with increased
violence. He therefore administered a second dose, but
without advantage. At half-past one in the morning he
was summoned by a lady in a dangerous labour ; he there-
fore gave me another draught, desiring that if that did not
procure me ease that I would at the end of another hour
drink a large glass of brandy, as he could not venture to
prescribe any more opium. Within the time limited I fell
into a profound sleep, continuing so until late in the morn-
ing : upon opening my eyes, I saw Dr. Hare just entering
the room. The spasms in my stomach ceased, but I felt
dreadfully sick and faint with a severe headache. These
complaints the doctor assured me would soon subside, being
occasioned by the extraordinary quantity of laudanum,
"For," said he, "in somewhat less than three hours you

III.— 2 B

370 MEMOIRS OP WILLIAM HICKEY

took two hundred and twenty drops ; your situation was
extremely critical and required a powerful hand. The fact
is there is something peculiar in your stomach, for although
strong medicines do not in general accord with it, there is
undoubtedly an exception with regard to opium or laudanum,
of which from the nature of your constitution large doses
are requisite to produce a good effect, and it is evident to
me the reason that you have hitherto found no benefit from
that excellent remedy is that you never until now have
taken a sufficient quantity. Drs. Allen and Wilson, like the
other practitioners of physio in Bengal, are too much afraid
of that searching and operative drug : they have been in
the habit of prescribing twenty-five or thirty drops at most
as a dose, whereas you require greatly more, and I gave you
in the last instance one hundred drops, followed by eighty
and lastly forty, making the whole two hundred and twenty,
and be assured that in these spasmodic attacks you are so
frequently assailed with, nothing less than one hundred
drops will answer the desired purpose." Dr. Hare was
certainly right.

Notwithstanding that I was so often so dangerously ill,
when not in actual pain my spirits were excellent. Fortun-
ately the violence of the spasms seldom continued above
eight or ten hours ; in my own mind, I had no doubt but
that they would ultimately carry me out of the world, and
that my bones would lay in the burial-ground of Calcutta,
in which case I was desirous they should be deposited near
those of my departed and much-loved Charlotte. Calling
one day at Stuart's, the coach-maker, to look at a new
Europe-built chariot I had just purchased of him, I there
met his partner, Maudsley, who besides being a coach-maker
managed and conducted the very lucrative business of under-
taker ; of him I enquired whether it was possible to secure
a particular spot in the burying-ground for that I found the
graves multiplying so rapidly that the part in which Mrs.
Hickey's remains lay was nearly surrounded quite close, and
I was anxious, in the event of my dying in Bengal, to be
buried near her. To my enquiry Mr. Maudsley replied,

WISH TO BE BURIED NEAR CHARLOTTE 371

" Certainly, Sir, you may ; I have already prepared several
vaults for families. It is by no means an uncommon thing."
I thereupon desired him to do whatever was needful. About
a fortnight afterwards he called at my house to say that he
had executed my order, and he presented me with the
following bill :

WILLIAM HIOKEY, ESQUIRE. To THOMAS MAUDSLEY.

Dr. 1790, June 19th.

To a grave built in the burial-ground at Chouringeel Sicca
of bricks and best stone chunam and materials}- Rs.
—extent 10 ft. by 6 ft. 6 ins. and 7 ft. deep . . J 100.

Contents received. THOMAS MAUDSLEY.

This bill was accompanied by the following letter :

" SIB, I take the liberty of sending the bill for the grave
you ordered, and beg leave to remark, Sir, that if you should
have the misfortune to uso it there would be a further sum
of 100 rupees sicca to be paid to the clergymen of the
Presidency for permission fees. I am, Sir,

Your most obedient Servant,

THOMAS MAUDSLEY, 1st July, 1790."

This permission fee, as the undertaker called it, had been
just then for the first time demanded and generally con-
sidered an extortion, from the chaplains' salaries and per-
quisites being all fixed and settled by the Court of Directors.
But as with respect to me it was a post-obit demand, as I
conceived, I took no notice of Maudsley's letter. The priest,
however, being resolved not to relinquish his rights, on the
7th day of August following caused his coadjutor, the under-
taker, again to address me thus :

" SIR, By desire of the Reverend Mr. Blanchard, I take
the liberty of sending the accompanying bill. I am, Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

THOMAS MAUDSLEY. 7th August, '90."

372 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

The bill was in these words :

"WILLIAM HICKEY, ESQUIRE. Dr. 1790, June 19th.

To fees due to the Chaplains of the Presidency for their
permission to make a vault of brick and mortar in the burial-
ground of Chouringee — sicca rupees fifty.

N.B. — In the event of its being used as a foundation of a
monument a further charge of fifty rupees will be then made.

Calcutta, the 6th August, 1790.

Received payment: S. BLANCH ARD."

This demand struck me as so blackguard and disgraceful
in a clergyman to make, independent of its being unjust,
that I had at first determined to resist the payment, but
upon further consideration I did not think it was worth
contending about, and therefore sent the fifty rupees re-
quired. I, however, mentioned the circumstance to several
of my friends, who all agreed in pronouncing it very dis-
reputable in Mr. Blanc hard, as a professional man, to act
in such a manner.

A history now came out that made the indecorous conduct
of the senior chaplain most palpable and glaring. Maudsley,
whom I have already mentioned, had purchased the situa-
tion of undertaker from a man of the name of Palmer, to
whom he paid a large sum of money as a consideration for
relinquishing the business in his favour. Palmer was a great
speculator and lost considerably by some shipping concern
he had engaged in. Upon his quitting the undertaker's line,
the Reverend Mr. Blanchard called upon him for payment
of a bond he held of his for five thousand sicca rupees.
Palmer insisted that by various documents in his possession
he could shew that this bond had been more than fully
liquidated, both principal and interest, by sums he, Mr.
Blanchard, had at different times received which belonged
to the joint stock, and, therefore, instead of requiring
further payment he ought to deliver up the said bond to be
cancelled. He also positively asserted that upon a fair
settlement of account a balance of several thousand rupees

THE CHAPLAIN AND THE UNDERTAKER 373

would appear to be due to him (Palmer). This statement
the parson would not listen to, threatening, if the amount
he claimed to be due upon the bond was not forthwith dis-
charged, he would put it into the hands of his attorney for
recovery. Palmer still resisting, Blanchard swore to the
debt and caused him to be arrested ; Palmer put in bail for
the action and immediately filed a Bill in Equity against the
plaintiff at law, in which bill he stated a most disgraceful
and iniquitous sort of partnership to subsist between him as
undertaker and Blanchard as head chaplain of the Presi-
dency, under which partnership Palmer, in consideration of
Blanchard's empowering him alone to perform funerals,
thereby making a monopoly in his favour, engaged to allow
him, Blanchard, twenty per cent from the gross amount of
all his bills for funerals.

In Palmer's Bill in Equity was also stated several letters
of Blanchard to him of a most degrading nature. From
one of these the following paragraph was extracted : and
stated verbatim. " A bill of yours for the funeral of

Mr. has been brought to me by the agency house of

Fair lie & Co., with a complaint from them of its exorbitancy
(and most exorbitant no doubt it is). What a blockhead
you are ; how often over and over again have I desired you
to be upon your guard, and am now obliged from your un-
ceasing and inveterate stupidity again to desire you,
cautiously to observe who the parties are that employ you,
and from whom you expect payment, more especially to
attend to the connection they stand in with respect to the
deceased ; husbands and wives, fathers, mothers, affec-
tionate children, and those kind of near and dear relations
are the only proper objects to clap on upon, and you may
always do it with perfect security ; too much cast down
and afflicted by the death of those they love and were
sincerely attached to, to examine or dispute the items of an
undertaker's bill, no matter how much out of all bounds
they may in their own minds pronounce it, they nevertheless
order payment. But merely common, indifferent friends,
and above all, your correct cold-blooded attorneys or agents

374 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

who care neither for the living nor the dead are the sort of
persons who will scrutinise the bill for a funeral more closely
than they would that of a notorious thieving Bengallee
tailor. With such sort of folks you ought to be extremely
cautious in your charges. In making out the bill now before
me you must either have been drunk or mad ; seventy-two
scarves and hat-bands ! To follow the corpse of a poor
cabinet maker, and five gold mohurs with the use of the best
black velvet pall ! What superlative folly ! These items
are particularly and severely commented upon by the im-
maculate Fairlie. I have struck out sixty of the scarves
and hat-bands, and the five gold mohurs altogether. Do,
I beg you, Palmer, show a little more common-sense and
mind what you are about. This foolish system, if persisted
in, will not only cause ruin for yourself but to everybody
that has to do with you." In another letter he says to the
same Mr. Palmer, " You're egregiously mistaken in suppos-
ing that our profitable season is the hot weather or the Rajus ;
that is by no means the fact, November and the early part
of December for me : that is the period of our harvest.
Look over your memorandum book and you will easily
ascertain that I am right, and find that during those two
months there are at least three deaths for every one at any
other part of the year."

Mr. Davies, the Advocate-General, was engaged as
counsel for Palmer, the draft of the bill was therefore laid
before him to revise and settle. That learned advocate
having heard, in public conversation, of the strange demand
made upon me for " permission fees," he requested to see
the papers respecting it, which I shewed him, and he declared
he would make use of them in the progress as evidence of
the systematic plan of robbery and meanness practised by
the head chaplain of the Settlement. But the priest had
too much good sense to make a production of such docu-
ments necessary, for the very moment after he had perused
his office copy of this remarkable Bill of Equity, finding
himself in so tender and so vulnerable a point, and how im-
practicable it was to answer the charges satisfactorily, he

THE FACETIOUSNESS OF MRS. HAY 375

at once and without hesitation, cried " peccavi," humbly
entreating that his adversary would consent to an amicable
adjustment of all differences, for which purpose he offered
a carte blanche as to terms. Palmer thereupon required
that Blanchard should cancel and deliver up the bond for
five thousand sicca rupees which he had arrested him for,
that he, Blanchard, should discontinue the said action at
law and pay the full costs on both sides ; that he should
likewise apply to have his, Palmer's, Bill in Equity dismissed
upon the terms of his, Blanchard's, paying the full costs
incurred by Palmer, to which Palmer would consent by his
counsel, and finally that Blanchard should execute a general
release to Palmer.

These conditions, severe as they were, Blanchard thank-
fully acceded to and fulfilled without loss of time, as he
would willingly have done had Palmer even required him
to pay him twenty thousand rupees as hush money, and in
so yielding he only would have acted with common prudence,
for had the suit in Equity been proceeded in he must have
been alike ruined in fame as in fortune, besides being dis-
missed with ignominy from the East India Company's
service.

Upon the circumstances of a grave being dug, pursuant
to my orders as hereinbefore mentioned, Mrs. Hay, wife to
the Chief Secretary, exercised her pleasantry by making
and propagating the following story : " That in one of those
hypochondriacal fits by which I was frequently attacked,
imagining as usual that I was on the verge of departing this
life, I sent for the undertaker, to whom I gave directions to
make everything ready for my funeral, in obedience to which
Maudsley forthwith caused a grave to be dug, sending a
handsome coffin with appropriate furniture to my house :
but as I had previous to his arrival got rid of my melancholy,
I would not receive the coffin : that in two or three days
afterwards the undertaker sent in his bill, which upon my
refusing to pay, an action at law was threatened against me
for recovery of the amount claimed ; that after much
altercation and correspondence upon the subject the matter

376 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

had been compromised by my consenting to pay half the
sum demanded and relinquishing all claim to the grave."
The first person who mentioned the thing to me was Mr.
William Burke, who said Mrs. Hay had assured him she
knew it to be an undoubted fact. Having related the real
circumstances to Mr. Burke, I could only join in the laugh,
and give the fair lady credit for her inventive genius and
facetiousness.

After such an account as the foregoing of the Reverend
Mr. Blanchard it will not surprize anyone to hear that he
accumulated a large fortune, with which, accompanied by
a sister who was as deserving a woman as any in the world,
he, in about eighteen months after the undertaker's attack,
embarked for Europe.

The contest with Tippoo Sultaun becoming every day
more serious and doubtful Lord Cornwallis determined to
take the field in person against him, for which purpose he
made preparation for proceeding to the coast of Coromandel.
His lordship also expressed his wish that Mr. William Burke
would accompany him in his capacity of His Majesty's
Paymaster-General. Mr. Burke in consequence equipped
himself for an Asiatic campaign. Having been informed
that he would frequently be under the necessity of riding on
horseback, an exercise he had not been in the habit of taking
for many years, he thought it a proper caution to practise
a little previous to his departure, and accordingly purchased
a tractable animal, which being caparisoned and brought to
the door for a first essay, he boldly mounted to the infinite
surprize of his servants, who were all collected in a body to
behold so novel an exhibition as their master in the character
of an equestrian. Being firmly seated in the saddle he
turned to Samby, his favourite Madras man, exultingly
saying, " There, Samby, what do you think of me now ? "
To which Samby answered, " I think Master certainly got
up, but I think Master too much fear come to make horse
gallop." " Do you," said Mr. Burke. " Then you are mis-
taken, you damned, impudent rascal ; so here goes," and
giving the horse a stroke with his whip off he went in a

A MANLY GIRL 377

smart canter round the compound, in front of the house,
whereupon the whole posse of attendants set up a loud
huzza !

This season deprived Calcutta of one of its principal
ornaments by the departure of Mrs. Bristow for England.
She was a native of the little island of St. Helena, her maiden
name Wrangham ; a fine, dashing girl, not by any means a
regular beauty, but an uncommonly elegant figure and
person ; remarkably clever and highly accomplished. Her
natural flow of spirits frequently led her into extravagancies
and follies of rather too masculine a nature ; instead of
seating herself like other women on horseback, she rode like
a man astride, would leap over any hedge or ditch that even
the most zealous sportsmen were dubious of attempting.
She rode several matches and succeeded against the best
and most experienced jockeys. She was likewise an excel-
lent shot, rarely missing her bird ; understood the present
fashionable science of pugilism, and would without hesita-
tion knock a man down if he presumed to offer her the
slightest insult ; in short, she stopped at nothing that met
her fancy, however wild or eccentric, executing whatever
she attempted with a naivete and ease and elegance that
was irresistible. Upon her first arrival in India she had a
number of suitors, from whom she selected Mr. John Bristow,
a respectable character, high in the Company's Civil Service,
but plain in features and in dress. He was generally con-
sidered as possessing immense wealth, an opinion strength-
ened by his settling the extraordinarily large sum of £40,000
upon Miss Wrangham when he married her. At the time
she left India she had by him four lovely children, the
proper education of whom was her chief motive for quitting
her husband and embarking for Europe. She often declared
that but for that object she should prefer residing in Bengal
to any other part of the world.

In the middle of this year two old acquaintances of mine
arrived in Bengal in the command of East India ships.
These were Captain John Pascal Larkins, with whom I had
been schoolfellow at Streatham Academy, who now com-

378 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HICKEY

manded the Warren Hastings, and Peter Douglas, third
officer of the Plassey when I was in her, now commanding
the Queen. The latter gentleman had recently been at
Madras, and from him I learnt that Mrs. Cairnes, after hav-
ing engaged passage for Europe on board the Earl of Orford,
Captain White, for herself and children, had suddenly
relinquished her apartments in the ship and paid forfeit.
The supposed reason was her being attached to Captain
Carlisle of the Madras Artillery, the gentleman I have before
spoken of as the professed admirer of the famous Miss
Cummings. Captain Douglas, however, did not think that
was the cause, but that her continuing in India was owing
to the disputes and litigation occasioned by Sir Paul Joddrel's
strange business.

In the midst of Mr. Burke's preparations for going to the
coast he met with an alarming accident. On the outside of
his house he had erected a staircase of wood, enclosing the
same with canvas, the intention being to give the servants
access to his bedchamber and private apartments without
passing through the body of the house. The platform at the
top of the stairs Mr. Burke used for bathing. Either the
water had rotted the planks or the builder liad put in un-
sound wood, for one morning just as Mr. Burke had gone
there to bathe the flooring suddenly gave way and he was
precipitated to the ground, falling nearly fifty feet. That
he was not killed upon the spot was miraculous ; he escaped
without any fracture though wretchedly bruised, which
kept him to his room five weeks. During his confinement
Mr. Prendergast, his quondam protege, lay dangerously ill
with a diseased liver ; an abscess having formed internally ;
for several days the doctors had no hopes of saving him. It
was proposed to him, quite as a forlorn hope, that he should
undergo the dreadful operation of cutting ; which he agreed
to, and it was performed successfully. He recovered, becom-
ing as stout as he had ever been. While given over Mr.
Burke, though labouring under